I want to take you at your word that you only want to have a reasoned discussion. Okay, then.
The article says it numerous times (in case anybody misses it): "its launch has failed, and failed incredibly badly", but silly me, I'm not seeing anything except:
The buyers (other than the usual small number of professional malcontents) don't appear to be screaming bloody murder. And it seems to me the launch story won't be over until first buyers have their watches. Then, and only then, will you hear the screams (if indeed they happen) that tell you something actually went badly.
I don't get the eagerness to declare failure before the story is told. So enlighten me with specifics other than the three above, please?
Oh, that can be summed up in two simple words: "click bait".
So, from other articles/observations around the web, the major complaints are that...
1. With previous launches, people actually left the store with the swag. It created great scenes on the street of people joyously opening their boxes or running around hold their box over their head like a trophy.
2. Apple is touting the watch as an extremely “personal” device, but the only way to get one right now is to order it online - a very impersonal way of shopping.
3. The “try one on” process feels like a letdown. a) Because some locations don’t have the correct fit in style the consumer is really looking for and b) it creates a non-impulse buy scenario.
4. There’s a bunch of complaints about the logistics being way too conservative. Something about only 200k units originally created or something. People think that the logistics will take too long to catch up to potential demand, which may temper *long term* demand.
Bottom line is that people (mostly Apple fans, actually) are asking “why would I rush down to the store to see something I can’t actually own right now?”
The thoughts I’ve read is that Apple would have been wiser to create a wide-appeal base unit that they could have put in the store, then allowed for customized options for the discriminating shopper.
Again - this is what I’ve read from the various articles where consumers are disappointed with the launch. I haven’t been near an Apple store in god-knows-how long. (I also went to a mall for the first time in, like, three months this past weekend. Like I typical guy, though, when I go to a mall, it’s with a mission for a specific purchase.) There seems to be enough of these articles to support the notion that - *COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING* - Apple has not executed this launch as well as previous launches.
Yet, there are many folks who believe Apple can do no wrong, therefore these complaints are invalid.
LOL! You and I think in similar ways. I just finished writing a somewhat similar reply to bolobaby. . . pointing out that it isn't over yet. In fact it has barely started.
Apple is attempting to do an end run around the huge lines at the Apple Retail Stores. . . using the exact same techniques they pioneered in their Chinese rollouts of the iPhone 5s and used in China for the iPhone 6 and 6s to avoid queue riots, line-jumpers, queue space squatting and space renting, and fights for position. They required appointments and on-line ordering. It worked
In fact, it ain't over until the fat lady of profits starts her Aria. . .