“The debut of Apple Inc.’s first new device in five years looked more like an event from the fashion world rather than the tech world,” Tim Higgins, Jing Cao, and Amy Thomson report for Bloomberg. “This time, there weren’t long lines of faithful gadget lovers waiting for hours and days to buy the latest product from the Cupertino, California-based company.”
“Paris’s Colette, London’s Dover Street Market and Tokyo’s Isetan are among the high-end department stores joining the global rollout of the Apple Watch, which ranges in price from $349 to $17,000 for a gold version,” Higgins, Cao, and Thomson report. “Those shops, plus an undisclosed number of authorized resellers, may be the only places where people can actually buy the new smartwatch. Apple Stores are only showcasing the device, and the company is urging customers to place orders online.”
“Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s retail and online sales chief, has directed staff across eight countries and Hong Kong to send shoppers to its website to buy the device,” Higgins, Cao, and Thomson report. “‘Classic fashion industry play,’ Howard Feller, a partner at MMG Advisors, an investment bank that specializes in retail, jewelry and fashion, said of the Apple Watch introduction. ‘Every one of those locations are where trends are set, where new brands are introduced and where the customer who is absolutely hyper sensitive to the latest fashion trends will go to see what’s new for the season. Everything from the fashion world trickles down from there.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This rollout is genius, but we might be a bit biased right now as we sit here exploring our new Apple Watches which just arrived within the hour!
‘Looking forward to your thoughts once you’ve had some real-world quality time with it.
> Those shops, plus an undisclosed number of authorized resellers, may be the only places where people can actually buy the new smartwatch.
Yes, those places PLUS every iPhone, iPad, and computer that can access the online Apple Store. FOR THE LAST TWO WEEKS. More tech noobs who think something is NOT on sale unless they can walk into a physical store and pick it up off a shelf. They will be waiting a LONG time until Apple’s hundreds of Apple Stores and thousands of authorized retailers are fully stocked with sufficient inventory of the 30 (not gold) Apple Watch models.
I keep hearing a UPS truck .. like the vibration you think you feel in your pocket when there is no iPhone there 😉
Phantom delivery syndrome…
All fargin’ day that was happening! TG it finally came in so I could stop jumping up and looking out the window. Like a kid at Christmas!
“Every one of those locations are where trends are set, where new brands are introduced and where the customer who is absolutely hyper sensitive to the latest fashion trends will go to see what’s new for the season.”
And how many of THOSE locations actually sold a watch to one of THOSE kinds of people? Looked to me like us riff-raff were lining up to get them first. I think this is all stupid. Apple could have put a $10,000 price tag on a Sport, put it into one of THOSE stores a week early, and still sold a bunch of them.
not sure if I’m a fan of this rollout. I bet they are losing orders because not everyone wants to order it online. People want to buy it and wear it. ButI’m also not a fan Ahrendts . If she tried to pull a stunt like this at her previous job she would have been shown the door. in business you encourage people to spend money. If they have to wait you tend to lose sale
All the fashion PR and buzz is cool…..but….
Imho this roll out is a screwup on many levels…
Supply planning was a total screwup …
Miss-advertising launch day as 24th untill recently was a screwup.
Confusion over Product availibility at stores up untill last week was a screwup!
Overall a very unclean and inefficant product release!
There should be product in stores on launch day…
The lines add an amazing amount of buzz to these product releases.
Overall it did not have the well polished and fantastic buzz of regular apple product releases!
Apple and Angela have tried to make the best out of a bad supply situation and planning.. But it is in no way genius or befitting of Apple !
Hope they dont go this route again !
(PS .. Im not an unhappy, leftout fanboy saying this .. I have recieved my watches and cant wait to get home to open them ! )
Its Christmas in April for all those good little girls and boys who stayed up late and were quick on the trigger April 10. Mine Apple Watch just arrived!
I’d call it a pitch-perfect soft launch. One for the books.
Now the real fun begins. (Watch and see.)
The real fun for me will be tomorrow–if people like my Apple Watch apps! Here’s hoping!!
PS Search “you can sleep when you’re dead studios” in the app store or Apple Watch store to see what I’ve got there. Thanks for the look!
I am currently feeling a bit bad for the Swiss watch manufacturers–and even for my stable of pretty nice watches. I don’t see taking my slick little Apple Watch off any time soon. Three hours, two workouts, and some wandering around the house, and minus a few quips, I’m smitten! 😀