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.
AKA-— The decline and fall of the once mighty CRApple. In their homo-hysterical haste they rolled out their crappy watch too soon. Taking a bite of the big Apple, don’t mind the maggots.
If you believe that Apple made only 200,000 Apple Watches for a world-wide roll out of a product they've been preparing for since announcing it in September, I have this great bridge for sale in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying. Do you believe everything FUD written about Apple? Apple would NEVER move forward with a roll out with only 200K of a product on hand. That would be insane.
Apple would not even embark on a product with such a low target number.
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.
REALLY? The only Apple Watch that is not available at every Apple Store is the Apple Watch Edition which is available only in specific store locations. That is probably understandable for an item selling for $10,000 to $17,000 and up. Every other store has every other model available for trial fitting and every band style to swap out on the watches. . . so that any model variation can be provided to try-on within seconds. Again, you are making up Straw Man arguments or your sources are. That makes them essentially FUD articles if you are quoting an article from some source. . . but you never provide a link to any of your points.
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?”
Exactly WHERE are these "Apple fans" you quote? They can go see the Apple Watch and there are lines at the store to see the Apple Watch, even if they cannot have an appointment to touch one. I think you are literally making up your "facts" as you type.
There is another aspect of the Apple Watch to consider. It is not a product that lends itself to being examined by a shopper without supervision. Like any piece of personal jewelry one wears, to be able to hold one or try it on, requires attendance of a salesperson to make sure it doesn't walk away. . . or it must just be seen inside a locked case. It is the highest consumer contact sale intensive product Apple has ever attempted to sell and requires one-on-one attention of their staff. The Apple Watch can only be displayed in a locked case, to be removed on request, on at a time. All other products can be placed on Apple's famous wooden tables, cabled down but operational, to be picked up and played with and tried out before purchase.
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.
Excuse me? Do you even understand what the Apple Watch is? How it works? I don't think you do. There are three basic models, and two sizes in each of those basic models. There are also two colors of finish in each of them. From those basic limitations you can mix and match bands, sizes of watch etc.
How much MORE customization do you want, or can Apple provide???
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.
What part of the Apple Watch has not yet launched do you fail to understand. That will occur next Friday, on April 24th, one week from today. Only after that date, can anyone start to say the "Apple Watch LAUNCH has failed." What has happened so far is that pre-Launch sale orders are being taken, but the Apple Watch is not yet being offered for actual sale where any buyer can take one home.
Some of these same FUD spreaders were claiming the same things in the two weeks leading up to the release of the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 plus, because the pre-orders were showing that deliveries were going into weeks after the official "Launch Date" and they claimed Apple would have none available at the Apple Stores for buyers on Launch day. I got mine at an AT&T store by walking in on launch day and waiting 20 minutes. . . and my girlfriend got hers at an Apple Store on day two by waiting in line with me. Gee, they had plenty of stock at the stores. Some models, such as the Gold iPhone 6 plus, became unavailable late in the day on each day. . . but were resupplied by the next day. My girlfriend got the second to last iPhone 6 gold 64 GB on the second day.
Well, I'm not one of those folks, so we can set that aside, you and I.
> 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.
Yes. My uninformed guess is that Apple -may- have wanted that sort of scene, but couldn't pull it off for some reason. Maybe the product wasn't ready, and they felt they couldn't delay the launch sufficiently to cover it. Remember Microsoft's Vista debacle? They were many years late because of technical problems. But the reason that the Vista launch was considered flawed was not just that it was late, but the product was pretty egregious. If Apple's Watch is similarly egregious, we'll hear about it soon enough. But that hasn't come to pass yet. I'm holding the thought that they found it took longer than expected to get to a product that could be sold in quantity without serious problems. And that is the CORRECT decision, managerially. You don't release a crap product just because your calendar says you have to -- you take the heat and get it as right as you can.
I might have waited longer, so that people -could- leave the store with the swag. But I'm not Tim Cook.
> 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.
I consider that a crap complaint. I order Chanel "Chance" perfume, an expensive and VERY personal gift for my fiancee, over the internet. You know what? It smells the same on her as if I had bought it at a fancy boutique in the Big City. The Watch might be "personal" but there are damn few who give a crap how they get it. This complaint is fantasy in the mind of the blogger.
> 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.
Not having enough product on hand is an error on Apple's part. They should have had a bazillion of these ready to go. They played it safe, in this case, an error.
> 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.
Same comment as #3.
> 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?”
Yeah, that's valid I guess. I might feel that way myself, were I interested in a Watch.
> 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.
That's not a bad idea. Matter of judgment, with 20-20 hindsight.
> 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.
Well, as we all know, the data you get from a survey depends mightily on whom you survey and how many of them you talk to. If you go by the "articles where consumers are disappointed with the launch", then by definition you're going to get the impression the launch was a failure. But it ain't over, and I have not seen a majority of Watch customers talking about how disappointed they are. Not yet anyway.
I'll wait for the launch to be mostly over before I evaluate it as a success or failure. Monetarily it's a screaming success, of course, but that's not what we're talking about. We're discussing "perception".
> (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.
Well, for now I'll certainly agree that it's quite different from previous launches. And I would have done a few things more like in previous launches myself.
Let's see how it all shakes out. Apple customers vote with their pocketbooks like anybody else. If the Watch and its launch are a failure, it'll be obvious as hell in a few months at most.