“Apple Inc’s head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, sent a memo to employees this week telling them that the Apple Watch isn’t going to have the camp-outside-the-Apple-Store crazed launch that has become associated with the company’s products,” Jennifer Booton reports for MarketWatch. “Ahrendts said the watch will continue to only be available online at least through the month of May, hinting at supply constraints as the company struggles to fill preorders.”
“Typically, when people preorder Apple devices online, they can pick them up from Apple stores on the designated launch date, which is usually two to three weeks after online preorders began. In this case, preorders started April 10, with the expectation that in-store pick-ups would begin on April 24,” Booton reports. “But not all preorders will be shipped by next Friday, the product’s launch date, nor will the watch be immediately available for walk-in purchases. Concerned customers have taken to Twitter and Apple forums to complain.”
“Almost all versions of the Apple Watch sold out within hours during online preorders,” Booton reports. “While some customers may get their devices on launch day as Ahrendts suggests in the memo, most versions now promise to ship within four to six weeks, which indicates a mid-to-late May launch. Apple has removed the April 24 availability date on its website and replaced it with: ‘The Watch is coming.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Watch is coming… eventually.
Deep breaths, everyone. This too shall pass.
Related articles:
Ahrendts memo: Apple Watches will not be available to buy in-store throughout May – April 16, 2015
Analyst: Low Apple Watch supply due to haptic motor and OLED display issues – April 15, 2015
Apple Watch deliveries could arrive sooner than expected – April 14, 2015
Apple Watch preorder data estimate: 1.24 million Apple Watches were preordered in the U.S. on Friday alone – April 13, 2015
Apple Watch first weekend preorders destroy Android Wear’s annual sales – April 13, 2015
Average U.S. Apple Watch pre-order was $707 – April 13, 2015
Apple Watch first-day pre-orders estimated near 1 million – April 13, 2015
Apple likely to quickly ramp up Apple Watch production – April 13, 2015
Apple Watch pre-order shipping estimates stretch into summer – April 11, 2015
Apple Watch sold out in minutes; didn’t preorder in time, how’s June sound? – April 10, 2015
Here are the dates you can expect to get your Apple Watch – April 10, 2015
Apple Watch on fire as Apple sells out fast – April 10, 2015
Apple Watch draws strong turnout at Apple Retail Stores – April 10, 2015
Apple Watch already sold out – April 10, 2015
Open thread: Did you get your Apple Watch preorder placed? – April 10, 2015
Sigh… Either supply constraints killed mass production startup, or Apple was a bit too conservative in its estimates of demand for the pre configurations it ordered.
If 2.3 million orders truly were placed in the past week, Apple is certainly doing the right thing by diverting available stock to preorders, and making the stores wait.
I know I’m extremely eager to get my hands on my Apple Watch. I’m sure there are millions others just like me just as eager.
It’s only a few extra weeks! Full speed ahead!
People always bitch and moan. If Apple waited until they produced enough to meet demand before putting it on sale, we would all be waiting anyway – it wouldn’t have been released until July or August.
The point is that they have been advertising the 24 th as a launch date…and creating so much buzz…. And now there is no launch date..
Thise waiting eagerly will be disappointed
The uniformed will be disappointed
Lack of lines will kill the launch buzz…. Very negative !
Media and competition will have their heyday with it !
It is a screwup in every shape and form !
There *is* a launch date. On the 24th, a whole shitload of these will be arriving on people’s doorsteps. Mine may even be one of them.
No there is not.. Apple retracted that date !
Yes preoders will be shipped.. But there is no offical 24th launch date anymore.
That confusion and what the expectation is out there will creat bad PR !
If I or Mac Daddy get our Apple Watch on the 24th then that’s the launch date as advertised.
If people are getting their orders on April 24th by whatever method that would be considered a launch date aka first day of sale. I’m sure they retracted the date on the site because there will not be Watches on sale in the Stores that day and don’t want people showing up in the confusion. I can’t wait to get mine too in June but I’m not in a particular rush. In a few months this will all blow over and it’s not as though you can buy ANOTHER Apple Watch. They will sell just as many as they can manufacture, as usual for anything Apple makes.
Why aren’t you running Apple? You know so much about launching a new product. You should write to Tim Cook and let him know that you are available. You could totally take over the world with your incredible insight.
No, a screwup is making Android watches that have to go on sale because no one is buying them.
Major planning screwup by management !
Yup this shall pass too… But not without a PR nightmare and media frenzy!
If u downvoted this there are two possibilities :
1- you believe this is a noneissue. In which case i hope u are right and i am wrong !
2- you dont understand the significance of lines at apple stores and their impact on buzz!
Out of all the major launches over the last 10 years, this has been the worst. You’re right. The significance of the lines is huge. Angela Ahrendts doesn’t get it. It’s as if she doesn’t like the fact that Apple customers are willing to line up for days to buy an Apple product. I worked at an Apple store when the first iPhone shipped. It was incredible. I never saw that store so packed and people lined up all they out to the mall parking lot to get in. The anti-Apple media will have a field day with this. And just wait. Samsung and Apple’s other competitors are probably working on snide ads to exploit this incompetent product roll-out. The Apple Watch better damn well be an awesome product if I really do have to wait until June. I don’t give a damn about being voted down. My self esteem and trust in my own judgement are not tied to having other people agree with me.
I’m thinking Samsung has already learned their disingenuous lesson about snide advertising. Didn’t get them much with Bendgate and came back to haunt them with their new S6 crack&bendtastic models.
Which could be a positive. Last week the talk was the watch is nice, but is it really needed? This week the talk is demand is so crazy that they can’t even supply the stores for “launch”. This drama will peak the curiosity of the average Joe, which might result in a visit to the store to test drive the product.
Right. Then they get all enthusiastic about buying one and then they find out they can’t have it for months. This reminds me of Gateway stores. You could go there, look at all the new PCs, and then leave with nothing. You had to order your new PC and wait. Just like the Apple Watch. What a great concept! Someone should remind Apple that Gateway stores went titsup because of this concept.
My iPhone 6 Plus took almost two months to be delivered. As it turns out, there was A LOT of demand. This September I will plan better and order the next iPhone Plus using the Apple Store app.
In the beginning, we had custom personal computers built to order. Some of these took a few months to be delivered. Then we started ordering Dell computers from a pamphlet. I inquired about something in a Gateway store once and noticed zero customers. This scared me into not purchasing Gateway computers.
Howie’s from the McDonald’s generation where his meal is always waiting when ordered.
Don’t draw conclusions about me. You don’t know a damn thing about me, so don’t make this personal. Disagree if you want. I don’t care.
No! How is Apple to know the scope of interest at the launch of this product? Remember that iPad pre-orders were less than one million. The only concrete data Apple had to work with is the sorry track record of all the other “smart” watches out there. Apple took preorders in the first weekend exceeding the total number of “smart” watches sold, EVER.
A lot of people predicted a much slower ramp. I think that this has been a surprise to Apple management, and they are scrambling as fast as they can to meet an unexpected initial demand.
Yep. Many people bitching about a non-issue.
So Apple guessed wrong on initial demand.
Lets go back a month or two and have Apple base their decision on all the experts out there that were very vocal about Apple watch sales going to be very low, poor, sad, not enough, dismal, pathetic, etc.
Get the picture yet?
So then Apple sells more in one day than “all the others for a year”. That fact right there is being forgotten by all these whiners. No this appears to be many of the “I want it and I want it now” crowd. Well that’s too bad. Shut up and wait in line.
Enjoy your not so smart samdung watch.
Don’t worry, Jenny Booty. It’s a HELLUVA lot better than plenty being available because no-one wants them.
LateGate! 😧
My build to order 1.3 ghz Macbook retina won’t arrive until June or nearly June (available to ship in 4-6 weeks). Fire Ahrendts!!