In-box band options for new Apple Watch buyers now limited to Sport, Milanese Loop

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited March 2017
Apple has cut back on bands you can get with a new Apple Watch, with new users only able to get a Series 2 watch bundled with either the Milanese Loop or Sport Band.




Nearly all of Apple's bands were able to be ordered up until Monday with the purchase of an Apple Watch Series 2 -- but most options have been out of stock for some time. The move is likely to simplify Apple's supply chain, but at the expense of "out of the box" flexibility for the consumer.

The previous offerings, including the Classic Buckle, Leather Loop, and Link Bracelet are still available, but now only sold separately. Quick stock checks of Apple Retail stores show some old stock with bundled bands other than the Milanese Loop or Sport Band still able to be purchased, but with spotty availability. Apple authorized reseller B&H also has inventory available in several styles with no sales tax collected outside NY and NJ, according to the AppleInsider Apple Watch Series 2 Price Guide.

A source within Apple Retail, speaking on condition of anonymity, told us that while some Apple Stores were instructed to send back their non-compliant models under the new order, some were allowed to sell-through existing stock.

The move comes in conjunction with an overall expansion of Apple Watch bands from Apple, with a new series of bands including stand-alone Nike Sport bands, more Hermes bands, and an assortment of new Woven Nylon bands released on Tuesday.

Apple also revealed a new 9.7-inch iPad replacing the iPad Air 2, special edition (Product)Red iPhone 7, the doubling of storage on the iPhone SE without changing the price of the device, and a new Clips app for social media video generation.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    I'm on my second sport band for my Apple Watch Series 0. As much as I loved the first lime green one, it got kind of grimy-looking and wouldn't clean up. No big surprise, considering the material it's made with. I replaced it with a black one, which looks great with the watch's silver anodized case. I do like the band's design overall. Quite comfortable, pliable, and strong.

    I do like the broad selection of bands, though. Something for most every taste, presumably.
    edited March 2017
  • Reply 2 of 24
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member
    I wonder if they will return to a broader selection when the announce the Series 3, then reduce options after the holidays until the next update? Watch band options are nice, but I'd like to see stats as to how often most customers switch them over the band they bought their original watch with. My anecdotal experience is that most I see wearing them never switch their bands. This decision obviously simplifies apples supply chain, but puts the customer into the position of likely having to buy at least one accessory band to get the one they want, and may not ever wear the original band. If they dropped the price too, that might be an acceptable option. Maybe this is the first step on the path to selling bandless watches.
    edited March 2017
  • Reply 3 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I think this is stupid. I bought the series 2 in black SS with the black SS band. The problem is that this band, along with the natural color model, is virtually impossible to get unless you buy it with the Watch. I don't know why. But if Apple insists on this nonsense, then they had better have a far better selection in the stores, and online.

    a problem I see is that Apple is far too concerned in what is selling the best. They ignore everything else. If they truly want to be a purveyor of high quality watches, particularly with fashion sense, they must carry all their bracelets and bands. It doesn't matter if they only sell one piece of a particular version a year. That's what they need to understand.

    so far, they've done some things well, and some things poorly. By limiting what you can buy, they turn buyers off. Not everyone is willing to wait for a band. Most people want to go into a store, SEE the band, and feel the band. Then they want to buy that band, RIGHT NOW! If Apple doesn't get that, then they should hire someone from the Watch industry to take over marketing them.
    SpamSandwichcali
  • Reply 4 of 24
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    sog35 said:
    This is an excellent decision.

    I always thought it was crazy that Apple Watch had so many SKU's with the only difference is the band.

    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    That won't happen. The sport band is the basic band, which will come with it at the minimum. If you want a specialized band on top of it great, but they aren't going to sweat you having to have the sport band in your drawer. 
    MetriacanthosaurusMacPro
  • Reply 5 of 24
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    sog35 said:
    This is an excellent decision.

    I always thought it was crazy that Apple Watch had so many SKU's with the only difference is the band.

    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    Agree with strategy of selling bands separately. Make every sale a custom configuration. I think they'd end up selling more bands as a result.
    Daekwan
  • Reply 6 of 24
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    sog35 said:
    This is an excellent decision.

    I always thought it was crazy that Apple Watch had so many SKU's with the only difference is the band.

    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    Agree with strategy of selling bands separately. Make every sale a custom configuration. I think they'd end up selling more bands as a result.
    Yep. Buy the watch and two or three bands of your choice to go with it.
  • Reply 7 of 24
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member

    melgross said:
    I think this is stupid. [...]

    they must carry all their bracelets and bands. It doesn't matter if they only sell one piece of a particular version a year. That's what they need to understand.

    Hmm, and what other watch brands carry stock of every single option in every single store, even if they only sell one (1) of said option a year? That sounds incredibly stupid to me. 
    lolliver
  • Reply 8 of 24
    lkrupp said:
    sog35 said:
    This is an excellent decision.

    I always thought it was crazy that Apple Watch had so many SKU's with the only difference is the band.

    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    Agree with strategy of selling bands separately. Make every sale a custom configuration. I think they'd end up selling more bands as a result.
    Yep. Buy the watch and two or three bands of your choice to go with it.
    Totally agree. They should have done this from the start. Separate out the cost of the band, and let the consumer choose what band they want to add. Much like selling an iPhone doesn't include a case, but the suggestion is made to consider any of the cases they offer, Apple branded or otherwise. 

    I would bet that it would foster an even large third party market for Watch bands if other brands knew their products had a chance to be chosen as the original band by the consumer. 
  • Reply 9 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Some of you guys are clearly missing the point of the problem here. I bought online, almost the minute the series 2 went on sale. What's the difference between buying the Watch and band as a unit, and being required to go through the Watch choices, and the going through the band choices before making the purchase? The difference I see would be the horrible inconvenience of forcing me to go through more hoops, taking more time. And with this bracelet, being told that it's "out of stock".

    you can always buy more bands later. In fact, it's not smart to buy several bands as you buy the Watch, because you have to get used to the first band before you can have some idea as to what you do, and don't, like about it.

    as I was saying, Apple needs to have all the bands in stock in the stores, and online. But they don't. The last time, a few months ago, when I went to my Apple Store to buy a new band, and some other things, they had only about half the places in the display filled. I asked why, and was told that they didn't really know, but that maybe the ones that were pulled didn't sell as well. They only had maybe five of all the bands in stock. Not the one I wanted. This isn't a tiny Apple Store either.

    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.

    its what we're seeing with Watch bands. If it's not in the top few, it's pulled. If it's expensive, so it's not a major seller, it's out of stock. They can't do that with these products.
    apple jockey
  • Reply 10 of 24
    melgross said:
    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.
    That's not how it works at all. They don't just axe features when usage gets below a certain percentage. They axe things that are holding back other improvements and desires, regardless of how much usage they get.

    They axed the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 which was in use by just about every single user, in favor of something far better.
    calilolliver
  • Reply 11 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    melgross said:
    I think this is stupid. [...]

    they must carry all their bracelets and bands. It doesn't matter if they only sell one piece of a particular version a year. That's what they need to understand.

    Hmm, and what other watch brands carry stock of every single option in every single store, even if they only sell one (1) of said option a year? That sounds incredibly stupid to me. 
    First, you can't think of Apple's as a Watch brand alone. Very few Watch brands have their own outlets. Those that do carry a very large selection. But then, most of these brands have a lot more Watch case styles as well, so it's more difficult for them to do so. Major Watch stores, such as Tourneau carry a vast selection of many brands and bands for each, as well as third party bands.

    apple doesn't have many case styles. They don't even have that many bands. They have plenty of room in storage to hold everything they offer. And if you look at the Watch display case, you'll notice that there's plenty of room there too. It's not space, half the holders are empty.

    you don't get style needs, or the way watches are sold. How much room does it take to carry one small package for a band? Very little. I've bought two Apple bands in their store near me. The packages are tiny. One square yard by 8 inches deep could carry all of their bands with several dozen each. Not exactly a big deal.

    once you lose that sale, it's gone. People will buy a substitute on Amazon, where I've also bought a few bands and a bracket Apple doesn't make.
  • Reply 12 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    melgross said:
    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.
    That's not how it works at all. They don't just axe features when usage gets below a certain percentage. They axe things that are holding back other improvements and desires, regardless of how much usage they get.

    They axed the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 which was in use by just about every single user, in favor of something far better
    That's exactly how it works. That's also exactly what Apple's reason for dropping the SD card slot was.

    is it the reason for dropping every feature, of course not, and I didn't say it was. But Apple does drop things because it doesn't meet their definition of popular enough. When they said that they dropped the SD card reader because not enough of their users were using it, I thought they would say that 5% were using it, not 20%. Geeze, that's one out of five. That's a lot.

    sure, they drop bands because of seasonal fashion choices, that's expected with some leather and cloth models. But they're shrinking the selection overall. So unless they decide to carry third party, authorized bands, other than $1,000 models, they should keep offering a wide selection.
  • Reply 13 of 24
    adamcadamc Posts: 583member
    melgross said:

    melgross said:
    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.
    That's not how it works at all. They don't just axe features when usage gets below a certain percentage. They axe things that are holding back other improvements and desires, regardless of how much usage they get.

    They axed the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 which was in use by just about every single user, in favor of something far better
    That's exactly how it works. That's also exactly what Apple's reason for dropping the SD card slot was.

    is it the reason for dropping every feature, of course not, and I didn't say it was. But Apple does drop things because it doesn't meet their definition of popular enough. When they said that they dropped the SD card reader because not enough of their users were using it, I thought they would say that 5% were using it, not 20%. Geeze, that's one out of five. That's a lot.

    sure, they drop bands because of seasonal fashion choices, that's expected with some leather and cloth models. But they're shrinking the selection overall. So unless they decide to carry third party, authorized bands, other than $1,000 models, they should keep offering a wide selection.
    I believe they are going back to the Steve Jobs basic that is less choice.

    Sell whatever that are popular and weed out the rest. I believe if you are a businessman you will understand the problem of overstock with goods you can't sell.

    They are dropping the Air moniker for the iPad and keep the line up of simple - the simple and the pro, and I believe it will be the same with the Mac range.

    I believe they are beginning to listen to the complaints and react accordingly besides they have all the data which can help them in their planning.



  • Reply 14 of 24
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    I think it is due to all the knock offs you can now buy on Amazon and Ebay. I can tell you non of them compare to the quality you get from Apple, but most are good enough. I wife and I have a number of bands we bought on Amazon and they do the job, but have not found a leather one close to what Apple offered. Most people are buying the sport band then buy the dressier ones elsewhere. We have seen apple do this before, intro all kinds of accessories and once the market starts offering similar product they back off.
  • Reply 15 of 24
    DaekwanDaekwan Posts: 175member
    melgross said:
    Some of you guys are clearly missing the point of the problem here. I bought online, almost the minute the series 2 went on sale. What's the difference between buying the Watch and band as a unit, and being required to go through the Watch choices, and the going through the band choices before making the purchase? The difference I see would be the horrible inconvenience of forcing me to go through more hoops, taking more time. And with this bracelet, being told that it's "out of stock".

    you can always buy more bands later. In fact, it's not smart to buy several bands as you buy the Watch, because you have to get used to the first band before you can have some idea as to what you do, and don't, like about it.

    as I was saying, Apple needs to have all the bands in stock in the stores, and online. But they don't. The last time, a few months ago, when I went to my Apple Store to buy a new band, and some other things, they had only about half the places in the display filled. I asked why, and was told that they didn't really know, but that maybe the ones that were pulled didn't sell as well. They only had maybe five of all the bands in stock. Not the one I wanted. This isn't a tiny Apple Store either.

    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.

    its what we're seeing with Watch bands. If it's not in the top few, it's pulled. If it's expensive, so it's not a major seller, it's out of stock. They can't do that with these products.
    Terrible example.  I find it hard to believe 20% of all Mac users user the SD card slot.  Everyone Mac user that I know, only used the SD card slot for one purpose:  transferring pictures from the DSLR to their Macbook.  As the cameras on phones have significantly improved.. the need for a DSLR has greatly diminished.  Sure no camera phone matches a DSLR in pure quality.. but the difference between the two is so close now that many amatuer DSLR users dont bother toting the huge camera around anymore.  I know I dont.  The last time I carried my Nikon D3100 around was six months ago on vacation in Europe.. and even then.. I never bothered to use it.  The camera iPhone7 Plus running the beta of 10.1 and using Portrait mode.. was so impressive why carry around the extra weight.

    And lets be real.  With the SD card slot only having one real purpose these days.. and a ton of USB-C adapters, hubs and cables on the market.. its not like anyone with 2016 Macbook is suddenly all out of luck for using an SD card anymore.  Hell a cheap $9 adapter will give them SD card slot that they will use exactly once every 28 months.  https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Adapter-Micro-USB-Function-USB-C-Silver/dp/B01N0R3ECG

    Stop trying to make SD card slot an issue.  Its 2017.. move on.  
    fastasleep
  • Reply 16 of 24
    macguimacgui Posts: 2,350member
    sog35 said:
    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    Ridiculous business model. The overwhelming majority of people wouldn't buy into or buy a 'kit watch'. Sales would be disastrous.



    melgross said:
    I think this is stupid. I bought the series 2 in black SS with the black SS band. The problem is that this band, along with the natural color model, is virtually impossible to get unless you buy it with the Watch. I don't know why. But if Apple insists on this nonsense, then they had better have a far better selection in the stores, and online.

    a problem I see is that Apple is far too concerned in what is selling the best. They ignore everything else. If they truly want to be a purveyor of high quality watches, particularly with fashion sense, they must carry all their bracelets and bands. It doesn't matter if they only sell one piece of a particular version a year. That's what they need to understand.

    so far, they've done some things well, and some things poorly. By limiting what you can buy, they turn buyers off. Not everyone is willing to wait for a band. Most people want to go into a store, SEE the band, and feel the band. Then they want to buy that band, RIGHT NOW! If Apple doesn't get that, then they should hire someone from the Watch industry to take over marketing them.
    Apple Watches are selling far better than most people will every give them credit for. But they don't and won't ever have the cachet of expensive luxury watches. So they won't be competing with them. 

    They are not a watch company. Expecting them to maintain every Watch and band combination in stock is ridiculous and naive. By limiting the choice in expensive inventory, the Watches, they have much more room to stock inexpensive inventory, the bands. There'll be no digging through boxes looking for the case/color/band/band color combination that a customer is looking for. Buy the basic Watch, get a basic (Sport) band in one of two colors, or get an upgrade band. Then go over to the wall of bands and get an additional band, exactly the one you want. 

    This is the business model that will give the most people the most immediate gratification. How many people went in to buy a Watch only to find that there may have been several Watches available but none in the particular combination they wanted. That results in stagnant inventory.



    SpamSandwich said:
    Agree with strategy of selling bands separately. Make every sale a custom configuration. I think they'd end up selling more bands as a result.
    Especially every point of sale sale a custom configuration. Reducing the number of CTOs  means more sales and shorter online deliver times. They'll sell more bands and probably more Watches.

    As the bands are fashion accessories, Apple will rotated colors and styles in and out of the selection, just as is done with clothing. Most people will learn this and just like other aspects of fashion, buy accordingly. Get the band you like now, because come next season, it may not be available.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 17 of 24
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    They axed the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 which was in use by just about every single user, in favor of something far betterworse.
    FTFY.

    No, sorry.  Empty space is NOT an improvement.  The 3.5mm analog audio port is a standard, works VERY well, has been a standard for a long time, and will continue to be a standard for a very long time into the future, Apple's little stunt notwithstanding. 

    And what did we gain?  Water resistance?  Nope.  The technology to make a 3.5mm audio jack water resistant has been around for a long time, and works very well.  Cool new something?  Nope.  There's enough empty space in that case to have put the jack in. 

    No, there was literally ZERO gain from leaving out that port.  The only reason to do it was Jony Ive's vanity.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    adamc said:
    melgross said:

    melgross said:
    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.
    That's not how it works at all. They don't just axe features when usage gets below a certain percentage. They axe things that are holding back other improvements and desires, regardless of how much usage they get.

    They axed the 3.5mm port on iPhone 7 which was in use by just about every single user, in favor of something far better
    That's exactly how it works. That's also exactly what Apple's reason for dropping the SD card slot was.

    is it the reason for dropping every feature, of course not, and I didn't say it was. But Apple does drop things because it doesn't meet their definition of popular enough. When they said that they dropped the SD card reader because not enough of their users were using it, I thought they would say that 5% were using it, not 20%. Geeze, that's one out of five. That's a lot.

    sure, they drop bands because of seasonal fashion choices, that's expected with some leather and cloth models. But they're shrinking the selection overall. So unless they decide to carry third party, authorized bands, other than $1,000 models, they should keep offering a wide selection.
    I believe they are going back to the Steve Jobs basic that is less choice.

    Sell whatever that are popular and weed out the rest. I believe if you are a businessman you will understand the problem of overstock with goods you can't sell.

    They are dropping the Air moniker for the iPad and keep the line up of simple - the simple and the pro, and I believe it will be the same with the Mac range.

    I believe they are beginning to listen to the complaints and react accordingly besides they have all the data which can help them in their planning.



    I had two businesses over a period of some 35 years, both were successful. I understand how it works. Often, for the second, I had to do things I didn't want to in order to retain customers for other products and services. That's the way it works. When you retrench, people see it as an indication of lack of success. Sometimes, you really need to ignore margins in small, but important areas. Selling bands is a very profitable area. They probably make a good $30 on every $50 band they sell. 

    But this is Apple. They seem to have an attitude that if this isn't selling up to our expectations, we'll get rid of it. Someone comes into the store and REALLY wants that particular band, and it's not there. They're very disappointed. You don't want that. It may affect other buying decisions.

    its Setes fault that the original Mac never amounted to much. He was told that it needed to be an open machine, with slots, and the ability to go to other, bigger monitors. He didn't listen, and wanted that computer as an appliance. It killed sales. Business that were very interested didn't buy because of what he wanted. That continued until he was out of the company, and Scully came out with an 8 slot model. Then, business began to buy in, sometimes, in large numbers. But it was too late.

    when Steve came back, for a while, it seemed as thought he understood, but went back to the "don't mess with my machine". I know tha Mac sales did pretty well for a NJ berg of years, but it could have don't better. At one time, Apple was selling over a million Powermacs a year, at an average price of $3,200 per machine, not counting g monitors, in which they did a brisk business. That was when Apple was mostly a computer manufacturer, despite the iPod. Now, they totally ignore the pro market. Where is a new Mac Pro? What happened to their monitor line-up? What about a real heavy duty Macbook Pro?

    these are problems Apple isn't responding to. Will there ever be a new Mac Pro? Who knows, because they don't care to give us even a hint. Meanwhile, go to the pro video editing sites, and see how a lot of pros are moving to windows because of it. Does Apple care, who knows?

    Apple is very hard to read. Anyone who thinks they know exactly why Apple does things is almost always wrong. All we know is what we see.
  • Reply 19 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    Daekwan said:
    melgross said:
    Some of you guys are clearly missing the point of the problem here. I bought online, almost the minute the series 2 went on sale. What's the difference between buying the Watch and band as a unit, and being required to go through the Watch choices, and the going through the band choices before making the purchase? The difference I see would be the horrible inconvenience of forcing me to go through more hoops, taking more time. And with this bracelet, being told that it's "out of stock".

    you can always buy more bands later. In fact, it's not smart to buy several bands as you buy the Watch, because you have to get used to the first band before you can have some idea as to what you do, and don't, like about it.

    as I was saying, Apple needs to have all the bands in stock in the stores, and online. But they don't. The last time, a few months ago, when I went to my Apple Store to buy a new band, and some other things, they had only about half the places in the display filled. I asked why, and was told that they didn't really know, but that maybe the ones that were pulled didn't sell as well. They only had maybe five of all the bands in stock. Not the one I wanted. This isn't a tiny Apple Store either.

    i'm seeing this problem with Apple across the line. Why did they pull the SD card slot from the new Macbook Pro? Because most of their customers didn't use it. What percentage did, according to Apple? 20%. It seems to me that if 20% of your customers are using a feature, you don't pull it, that's a fair percentage.

    its what we're seeing with Watch bands. If it's not in the top few, it's pulled. If it's expensive, so it's not a major seller, it's out of stock. They can't do that with these products.
    Terrible example.  I find it hard to believe 20% of all Mac users user the SD card slot.  Everyone Mac user that I know, only used the SD card slot for one purpose:  transferring pictures from the DSLR to their Macbook.  As the cameras on phones have significantly improved.. the need for a DSLR has greatly diminished.  Sure no camera phone matches a DSLR in pure quality.. but the difference between the two is so close now that many amatuer DSLR users dont bother toting the huge camera around anymore.  I know I dont.  The last time I carried my Nikon D3100 around was six months ago on vacation in Europe.. and even then.. I never bothered to use it.  The camera iPhone7 Plus running the beta of 10.1 and using Portrait mode.. was so impressive why carry around the extra weight.

    And lets be real.  With the SD card slot only having one real purpose these days.. and a ton of USB-C adapters, hubs and cables on the market.. its not like anyone with 2016 Macbook is suddenly all out of luck for using an SD card anymore.  Hell a cheap $9 adapter will give them SD card slot that they will use exactly once every 28 months.  https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Adapter-Micro-USB-Function-USB-C-Silver/dp/B01N0R3ECG

    Stop trying to make SD card slot an issue.  Its 2017.. move on.  
    It's a great example. And we do know what that percentage is, because Apple told us. If you refuse to believe what they said, then good for you. If you're going to base your thoughts on something that isn't real, then good for you again. You don't seem to understand the purpose of the slot, and for whom it's intended.

    its not intended for you, apparently, because pros don't use their phone for their work, except in rare circumstances. This is intended for moving lots of big images from your camera to your PRO laptop, which you spent a lot of money on because you're using it for PRO work. And you're doing that in the field, where you need to transfer your images for safety, among other reasons.

    while I'm retired, I still do a fair amount of that. And no, we don't want to carry a bunch of adapters everywhere we go. And these cheap adapters you mention are good for people like you, but we want, and need, speedy transfers, and those adapters cost a lot more. We also don't want to directly attach our cameras to the computer unless we REALLY need to, which is almost never.

    since you're obviously not the person professional equipment is aimed at, either in cameras, or the computers needed to function with them, it's understandable why you don't understand why this is a problem. But Apple is abandoning pros all over their line-up. Even though Cook recently said, at the shareholders meeting, in response to a question about this very issue, that the pro user was very important to Apple, that a standard line they use for everything when asked.

    what we need is to see some evidence that Apple really does care, and care in a way that has them doing something about it. And that, we're not seeing.
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 20 of 24
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member

    macgui said:
    sog35 said:
    I want Apple to go further. 

    They just sell the Apple Watch face by itself. And bands by itself.  Except for special editions like Nike, Hermes, Edition.

    That will cut down on SKU's and a ton of inventory management work
    Ridiculous business model. The overwhelming majority of people wouldn't buy into or buy a 'kit watch'. Sales would be disastrous.



    melgross said:
    I think this is stupid. I bought the series 2 in black SS with the black SS band. The problem is that this band, along with the natural color model, is virtually impossible to get unless you buy it with the Watch. I don't know why. But if Apple insists on this nonsense, then they had better have a far better selection in the stores, and online.

    a problem I see is that Apple is far too concerned in what is selling the best. They ignore everything else. If they truly want to be a purveyor of high quality watches, particularly with fashion sense, they must carry all their bracelets and bands. It doesn't matter if they only sell one piece of a particular version a year. That's what they need to understand.

    so far, they've done some things well, and some things poorly. By limiting what you can buy, they turn buyers off. Not everyone is willing to wait for a band. Most people want to go into a store, SEE the band, and feel the band. Then they want to buy that band, RIGHT NOW! If Apple doesn't get that, then they should hire someone from the Watch industry to take over marketing them.
    Apple Watches are selling far better than most people will every give them credit for. But they don't and won't ever have the cachet of expensive luxury watches. So they won't be competing with them. 

    They are not a watch company. Expecting them to maintain every Watch and band combination in stock is ridiculous and naive. By limiting the choice in expensive inventory, the Watches, they have much more room to stock inexpensive inventory, the bands. There'll be no digging through boxes looking for the case/color/band/band color combination that a customer is looking for. Buy the basic Watch, get a basic (Sport) band in one of two colors, or get an upgrade band. Then go over to the wall of bands and get an additional band, exactly the one you want. 

    This is the business model that will give the most people the most immediate gratification. How many people went in to buy a Watch only to find that there may have been several Watches available but none in the particular combination they wanted. That results in stagnant inventory.



    SpamSandwich said:
    Agree with strategy of selling bands separately. Make every sale a custom configuration. I think they'd end up selling more bands as a result.
    Especially every point of sale sale a custom configuration. Reducing the number of CTOs  means more sales and shorter online deliver times. They'll sell more bands and probably more Watches.

    As the bands are fashion accessories, Apple will rotated colors and styles in and out of the selection, just as is done with clothing. Most people will learn this and just like other aspects of fashion, buy accordingly. Get the band you like now, because come next season, it may not be available.
    Bah! This is a fashion business. That's what watches are. They don't need to be very expensive for that. Just look at the number of watches, and bands, companies such as Swatch and Fossil have. They dwarf Apple's line-up. Apple has plenty of room to carry all of their bands. I already gave the size they would need, and it's tiny. If they don't want to carry bands, then fine, make just a very few, such as my SS bracelet, and a handful of others, that third parties are reluctant to make, or that are unique in some way. But then they need to carry bands from other authorized makers, other than $1,000 models. I don't know what you have in watches, but I can tell you that people look at watches for some time before buying. Bands are a big part of that when the manufacturer is selling a watch where they're making a point on how easy changing bands is, and in how many different ones there are.

    by the way, Apple is a watch company. According to their own numbers, last year, by dollar sales, they were the worlds second largest Watch company. They said they had their best quarter ever, last quarter, so they may even be the worlds largest Watch company, by dollar sales. There is no way you can talk around that. It may be a small part of their overall business, but that still billion's a year. And they're counting on sales of bands for a fair amount of that, according to them.

    if anyone here is naive, it's you. A company can't claim to be one thing, and then be another. That's what Apple is doing. Every time a customer walks out of the store, disappointed, that could be a lost customer. 
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