“The Apple Watch will launch with a whisper rather than a bang on Friday,” Yasmeen Abutaleb reports for Reuters. “The company has not revealed how many orders it has received in the run-up to the April 24 launch, a contrast to previous launches of iPhones and iPads. And Apple stores will not have any watches to sell on Friday, even though some luxury shops around the world will.”
“Apple was unsure whether the watch would create the lines snaking around stores that the company has historically seen with its iPhones, said Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray,” Abutaleb reports. “‘The smaller launch can allow them to see how it goes and it does remove some of the line expectation and risk,’ Munster said. ‘If they did it the old way and the lines weren’t good, that’s a bit of a problem.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Mischaracterizing this as a “smaller” launch is a mistake. This is not based on facts. We have no idea how many preorders Apple has taken.
“FBR Capital Markets senior analyst Daniel Ives raised his 2015 estimate to 20 million from 17 million, based in part on online order backlogs. ‘There was a question over whether the trajectory and demand for wearables in the Apple ecosystem was there and real,’ said Ives. ‘But it’s a resounding yes.’ Now Apple faces the question of whether confused consumers will swamp Apple Stores on Friday,” Abutaleb reports. “‘A lot of consumers are going to go to the store on Friday trying to buy a watch,’ he said.”
“In fact, the only watches on sale on Friday will be at a handful of upscale boutiques and department stores that Apple courted to help position the watch as a fashion item,” Abutaleb reports. “The Corner in Berlin, Maxfield in Los Angeles and Dover Street Market in Tokyo and London all say on their websites that they will have watches in store on April 24. Maxfield will open two hours earlier and is preparing for crowds.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good luck, Apple Retail Store employees!
Related articles:
Apple Watch preorders now shipping – April 23, 2015
Angela Ahrendts addresses Apple Watch, MacBook launch with Retail Store staff (with video) – April 22, 2015
Apple being ‘bombarded’ with inquiries on Apple Watch arrival – April 22, 2015
Apple now preparing early Apple Watch preorders for shipment – April 21, 2015
IT admins need to get ready for Apple Watch to hit the workplace – April 20, 2015
Apple Watch’s long-term success depends on trailblazing early adopters – April 20, 2015
I am sorry but the watch MAY not be that fashionable. Why have so many stopped wearing, or have never worn watches on their wrist?
This entire process [as outlined in this and recent articles] reeks of the very poor marketing skills of Tim Cook. It is now an elitist product? That is definitely not Apple, at least not the SJ Apple that I admired. Maybe Tim should focus on patching the crumbling software that has become Apple of late, instead of trying to best the genius that is Steve Jobs, something he will never do, someone that he can NEVER be. He obviously can run the company (through his subordinates by the way… only!) but he is sooooo fricken boring!
Recent reporting suggests that Jony Ive came to Tim with the idea of a wearable. Also the rumor is that the next OSX will be akin to Snow Leopard, with deep improvements in efficiency and power, rather than heavy new features.
So I don’t think you’re too informed, though I do agree with your general point that the Watch may have a tough row to hoe at first.
My strong sense is that Apple feels great excitement for what is coming down the pike and also great pressure to keep at the front edge of the wave. It would be too easy for them to become even moderately complacent and be upstaged over the next computing generation, which is the next 5-10 years.
iPhones, iPads and Macs aren’t going anywhere, but there are revolutions awaiting. The general direction of these revolutions has to do with ubiquitous computing. Processing power is so powerful and rapidly becoming so cheap that it will be possible to put computers essentially anywhere you want data. On your body. Throughout your house. Throughout the natural world.
This is what’s coming next. Followed in the proceeding 5-10 years by strong AI and advanced personal robotics.
When you see all this coming — and anyone in the field with any vision does — you have to rush towards it headlong. Every product and OS you see is being designed as a mere step toward that future. You don’t see it in the moment, as it seems like a destination, but every step is far from that. I’d guess that the execs have a hard time mustering excitement for the keynotes, because what’s being introduced stopped being exciting to them several years earlier.
The job is to get the people excited about each step, though, to keep the successes and money flowing so that those far future realities can be one step closer.
So complaints in the moment about Tim and fashion and “crumbling software” just don’t even register for me. This puck is moving really really fast.
Very well put. That’s exactly it. The watch is Apple’s first big bet on the next 5-10 years. It will enable a huge move into cloud services, and expansion into the home & car for Apple and Apple users. If you have a display and Siri on your wrist every waking moment, imagine the possibilities.
This is what makes Apple great. They are able to pave a path from here to the future with each new product line and technology, and we’re happily buying each and every paving stone along the way.
Continuity was the first big step toward this vision, and if you watch the short videos on the Apple website you will see what the “big deal” is about continuity. It was all pointing to the wearables; the beginning of true ubiquitous computing. (great phrase, Nerd Beautiful!).
You, my friend, simply don’t get it!!
The Apple Watch will go gang busters:
1. Every celebrity on the planet, if not already in possession of an Apple Watch, will be wondering why they were missed!!
2. Every App developer or aspiring App developer will buy one to to get first hand knowledge of what the Real wearable market potential is about; could number millions alone in this category
3. Every major competitor will have purchased many Apple Watches to take apart, analyse the use cases etc…
4. Every major retailer will purchased Apple Watches to understand the applicability to their own vertical
…. And that’s before we get to joe public, who will purchase millions to “wear on their wrists”, because it means they will no longer have to stare at their IPhones 100’s of times a day
Mark my words, this is going to drive iPhone sales, Apple Pay and leave the luxury watch market scratching their heads!!
I do get that it will be a hit, I just do not like the current “specific marketing”. It feels elitist to me and I am just a humble person, with no want or need for the “frills” that some just cannot help themselves but have, and flaunt. It is basically a “pay attention to me” mentality lately, with Tim and his ilk [notice not Jony!], and it is sickening.
“You needn’t worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.” – Princess Leia.
You may be right, but, I’ve been purchasing Apple equipment since the Apple IIe based on what I perceived to be their technical acuteness and vision. I didn’t need P.T. Barnum to hawk their wares then, and certainly not now. Though like you, I do wish they would address their software issues.
Many have stopped wearing watches because a conventional watch has only one purpose and many people find that a phone does it better. A watch longer does anything unique for you.
An Apple Watch is different because it extends the usefulness of your iPhone and brings new ways of interacting with your iPhone without actually having to take it out of your pocket. It may not appeal to everybody and it doesn’t appeal to me, but I think it’s going to be very successful and very fashionable too.
As far as Tim Cook is concerned, I reckon that he’s a very smart cookie and a gentleman with it. He may not have the charisma that Steve had, but he has wisdom and business acumen far in excess of what Steve had. Obviously he’s a different person and will be different to Steve, but I think that he’s perfect fit for the Apple of today.
Smart move. Jony and Angela planned it this way.
In a earlier article an MDN take proposed that selling the Apple Watch online initially was an attempt to prevent the scalping of units. This gives Apple the opportunity to look at people’s ID and see if they actually have an iPhone. I bet they are holding back orders from non-iPhone orders which will kill the resale opportunity.
Now for Edition watches I bet that most people need to try it on to make sure they want to buy it.
“The smaller launch can allow them to see how it goes and it does remove some of the line expectation and risk,’ Munster said. ‘If they did it the old way and the lines weren’t good, that’s a bit of a problem.”
That could well be one of the reasons they did it that way. But certainly not the main reason. I’m not getting my pre-ordered Apple Watch until the summer. At this point I’m surprised they’ve allotted any watches to the physical stores at all.
The author of this article is clearly confused about the Watch “launch.” The launch was on April 10. It’s understandable — the Watch launch was very different than any launch Apple has ever done. As the new head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, expressed so succinctly, “Get in line online.” Reserve a time to come in and try the watch on, learn more about it, play with the demo models, and place an order. Tomorrow will just be the first day that they are available to purchase in the retail stores. It’s hard to say how many will be available for retail sale. But if I go to my local store tomorrow and they have the watch I want available, I can cancel my online order and buy it at retail and walk out with it. I’m planning on being there for the “Launch” but I don’t think it’s going to be camping outside the mall or the store overnight, the lines, and hours of waiting like previous big launches have been. And, frankly, while I’ve always had fun camping out overnight for the big Event, this seems like a big step toward making it easier to get the next big thing.