“Apple will introduce several major initiatives to ready its retail stores for the Apple Watch’s launch in April, according to sources briefed on the upcoming changes,” Mark Gurman reports for 9to5Mac.
“Starting on April 10th, Apple will allocate 15 minutes per customer for in-store try-on appointments, using 10 try-on stations to manage what’s expected to be a steady flow of customers interested in having hands-on time with the Watch,” Gurman reports. “While customers will not necessarily be required to have an appointment, they will be time-limited and guided during the hands-on experience.”
Gurman reports, “Additionally, they will be given the opportunity to place a reservation at the time of try-on for a particular model, and make a follow-up appointment to pick the watch up during the April 24th launch date… To offer more personalized attention for certain Apple Watch customers, Apple will split its retail staff into four ‘zones’ when hands-on trials and sales begin.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Oh boy, this is going to be interesting. If you know you need to visit an Apple Retail Store for non-Apple Watch business, you might want to do it before April 10th.
My local Apple Store can get quite busy at times (amazing because they have a ton of staff) and it can get crowded there so I imagine that this is going to create a logjam. I’m going to wait a while before looking at these. I can imagine how envious the other jewelry stores in the mall are going to be.
You have 15 minutes to choose..14,13, 12…….2,1… then what ? Back of the line ? Talk about being rushed into a purchase decision.
Book two consecutive appointments.
You don’t have to make the purchase decision. Just go home, think about it, and then pre-order online.
But this is brilliant, because you CAN order it right there, if desired, in an environment when a “snap decision” is more likely. And the other brilliant move is “curation,” mentioned by Tim Cook when introducing Apple Watch as “collections.” The point is to make it easier to make the decision, NOT offer endless choices and combinations of watches and bands. The biggest seller will be the Sport model. Pick a watch size (two choices). Pick a color for band (5 choices). The “Space Grey” watch only comes with the black band. Two simple, relatively “stress free” choices. Less likelihood of later “choice remorse.” The steel model requires the more skill by the salesperson, because there are more choices.
Only Apple can get away with limiting how long someone can look at a product.
“Time to place your order or move along sir.”
From what I understand only Apple stores themselves will be able to offer the watches. At least initially. This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for both Apple Reselllers and the customers. Not everyone wants to be treated like cattle.
ANY store that has a line of people out the door waiting behind you will limit your time. Considering how long the lines are expected to be, 15 minutes is generous.
If no one is behind you, I’m sure will have all the time you want.
Give an example of ANY store that has done this in the past.
There’s Microsoft, no wait, they never had a product that popular. Well there’s Dell, no wait, not that one either. Google, er, nope. BlackBerry, ouch, no. Nokia, yea right. I know, how about Palm? Um, never happened.
Wait, I have it! Cabbage Patch Kids!
Those customers were treated like, er, cattle . . . in a stampede.
Did the Gateway Cows treat their customers like cattle? 😉
So you can’t order it online like everyone else? /s
In most big name brands with a wide market of products and quality levels, some resellers may not have access to the same levels or types of product. I can buy a car from my Toyota dealer but I cannot buy a Toyota robot there. I’d need to order from Japan to get one.
You will be able to order the Apple Watch online.
The in-store Apple support is to help people decide which watch is best for them.
Ive already decided which one I want so won really need to go into the store, I just have to decide on the size of the watch.
That’s good. I would much rather have this appointment, then trying to fight for ‘watch time’
There’s an online size chart. You can study every model WATCH in the Apple Store app and be ready for pre-order midnight April 9-10. By the 24th they’ll be back ordered more than a month. 😱💥😩😡🚀
There is no back order on Edition.
On the Apple Store app for iPhone, you can see photos of each model in its actual size. I used this to compare the sizes to my other watches. This could be helpful for anyone that is debating about which size to buy.
I’m sure the people buying $10,000 gold Apple Watches will get more than 15 minutes if they want it. Assuming there buying.
I think Apple’s problem will be finding anyone that can go for as long as 15 minutes before shouting, “Okay, I’ll take it!” 😉
Has anyone seen an announcement when the appointment system will be available on Apple’s website and where to look for the function?