I truly wish them the best of luck... but the pricing of these watches is ridiculous. I was expecting the price to be half as much and I was still not convinced I needed one. But now it's a definite no.
$175 was your deal breaker point?
Well once newer versions come out there will likely be a secondary market of refurbished and used ones if you become interested at that price, older iPhones are available that way.
I doubt the music will be stored on the Watch. The Watch will be a controller for music stored on your iPhone. It would make zero sense for Apple to expect those with large music libraries to have to pick and choose a subset of their music to download to the Watch when the Watch already needs your iPhone present to provide the earbud jack to wired earbuds/headphones or bluetooth connection to wireless earbuds/headphones or a bluetooth enabled stereo. Remember, the bluetooth connection from your watch to the phone is BLE, not the same as the standard bluetooth connection used to beam music to wireless bluetooth speakers, earbuds and headphones. Apple is neither going to fill up available storage on the Watch with music, nor are they going to suck the watch battery dry beaming music from it.
you're mistaken. you can definitely store music on the watch you can actually listen to it on a run sans phone. remember -- apps running off the phone are coming to this generation later this year. the only thing it will lack is gps.
Or go in store, try one on and order it when you get home, or on your phone while you're in the store.
^This. Not all that difficult.
I'm a little puzzled by the lowering of the store profile, but maybe they have market research to back it up AND the diverse number of models has to be a logistics nightmare and maybe they just don't want to constantly be turning away people for being out of stock of whatever becomes popular?
I've got no problem in principle with this approachto sales but are you able to play with the watch without having to make an appointment?
I do have one issue though. By the time I've had my appointment and decided I want to buy one, I have to then order. No problem. It's highly likely that preorders will have been long sold out by then so my desire to actually try the thing out actually penalises me.
More power to those who buy unseen, but fence sitting will have its consequences.
Post Day One when the nonsense wears off I completely expect so. Unless they can't figure out how to tether the things securely.
So how does it make any sense to a customer to be able to go into a store and try something on, something that does not need tailoring or fitting thereafter, find the one you want, and then have to wait a week before you can place an order? How does it make any sense for a business to tempt people with a product that they have travelled to your store to try on to then not allow that customer to get into the order queue? You seem to be thinking there are two distinct classes of customers that somehow need to be given fair access. The customers who need to see it in person first and those who don't. Nope. They are the same customers. Each may choose which group to belong to. If you choose to take the risk of ordering without first seeing and trying it on in person, you are rewarded for that risk by being earlier in the queue. Don't you see how this balances out?
This type of buying occurs all the time, such as when new housing or condo developments are being constructed. You can take the risk that you will like the property without seeing it fully constructed and doing a walk-through and you are rewarded for taking that risk by being able to select your plot of land for your home construction or floor/view in a condo tower ahead of other buyers. Those who make a purchase decision early are offered some incentive, some reward, benefit or advantage for having taken a risk.
Because when you walk out of the try on, you'll be able to order it but the shipping delay could be 4 or more weeks. This is a new kind of device. Most people buying it would not have worn a watch for years, if at all. The whole point of the try on is to try it on and see what one to buy. If you want the watch in any reasonable time you will need to buy it online before the stores even open. This sets up people buying a watch which might not fit them right. Meaning returns, maybe lots of them. Which could be potentially avoided if you let people try it on before the hordes order it.
The only risk for the customer is they will need to return and get a different one which might take a while. When they return it, it means apple has to refurbish it and reduce the price since it was already sold. So apple would be more of the loser here.
It's a marketing technique that is fundamentally taught in college marketing classes across the country and the world.
The problem is...almost everyone here seems to be taking extreme positions without using an open mind and not accepting the fact that IT IS POSSIBLE that Apple uses this technique, also. I'm not stating that they do or don't, just merely suggesting that it's not out of the question.
I am an Apple lover and user since 1989 and a major shareholder since 1997....but don't drink Kool-Aid. I think they are a great, well run company, but I also see the cracks in their perfect facade because Apple is not perfect. I think in a practical manner. I just use big picture thinking and don't doubt that any (or certain) tactics are not used to gain mindshare and perceived demand for a product, especially in a nascent, unproven category.
Unlike Samsung, which uses unscrupulous marketing tactics, Apple takes the high-road. And constrained supply is a high-road marketing tactic.
Now you're really asking for it. If good cop thompr doesn't break you, bad cop sog35 should have you asking for mercy.
But no, you have to go before the Council of Apple ethicists. Principle number one is that Apple does not do what business schools say a company should do. They aren't doing things for the bloody return on investment. It is out of the question that they would tinker with their pioneering well-oiled global supply machine, the most intricate in world history, to achieve a shabby end like desire manipulation, like the obsolete and morally bankrupt American business schools recommend.
You didn't drink the Kool-Aid you say? Maybe you should have drunk the Merry Pranksters' punch. To see what Steve Jobs saw—how to change the world for the better.
AngAhs doesn't understand the basic relationship that the Mac users and potential users have with the company. When you bring people into the store, you invite them into your home - so to speak. And that makes a personal relationship possible. And that leads to sales. I know Apple stands above the rest of the industry in its approach to product, service and retail experience. But Apple doesn't need a stick-your-nose-up-in-the-air British caste system to define its market place.
what on earth are you talking about? what caste system, specifically?
also, mac owners are in the minority of apple customers these days.
So here's a question that is unclear in all cases, including the press release: Will online preorders be handled at the store level or not? It would be unwise to have people try on watches, then allow them to walk out the door without encouraging them to place their preorder RIGHT THEN AND THERE with the assistance of an Apple employee, if they are so inclined. This is Sales 101... Close the deal!
Do you seriously believe Apple has not considered this? And that, if they decided not to do so, there wasn't a legitimate reason for it?
You have a serious problem with paying attention to details.
Not buying the 1st gen watch. Again, THE FIRST GENERATION OF APPLE WATCH. Is anyone home?
So they are taking reservations for the SECOND generation Apple Watch on the 10th?
You still have not explained why you are so concerned about the pre-order details since you have ZERO intention of buying the Watch this Month.
C'mon sog35. Cool down. Are you seriously saying someone should post about something related to an Apple product on AI only if they actually plan to buy it or have already bought it?
For example, I have absolutely no plans to buy the new MacBook. Does that mean I don't (or shouldn't) have an opinion on it?
I appreciate your passion but I feel you're not thinking clearly.
It's just as ridiculous to say they do not and I can just as easily say that there is no proof that they don't. I'm not trolling, just stating the obvious. If no definitive marketing plan is spoken about or made public, it can go either way, no? You are stating, in an absolute manner, that they don't, but, since nothing is ever said, I feel it's completely plausible that they do. No CEO, in their right mind, is going to share their specific marketing practice(s).
To think they would is just plain silly.
I find it interesting that the VP from Alfa Romeo mentioned Apple specifically, which was during a one-on-one conversation and pretty much off the record. I don't think he felt that some attendee at a car show is going to have the power to blow the whistle on a particular marketing practice. Nonetheless, this is what he told me, which certainly adds some color and credence to the 'planned-constrained-supply-as-a-marketing-ploy' argument.
dude. your Alfa VP doesn't know shit about shit -- he's not an insider, nobody at apple told him any company secrets. give it up.
as for constraint -- Cook has already stated "We can't make them fast enough!" thats the constraint. those guys and gals at foxconn are already pulling crazy hours to produce all this stuff. there is no other reason to believe its a conspiracy, and if you're going to claim there is then the burden of proof is on you.
The problem is...almost everyone here seems to be taking extreme positions without using an open mind and not accepting the fact that IT IS POSSIBLE that Apple uses this technique, also. I'm not stating that they do or don't, just merely suggesting that it's not out of the question.
nope - its out of the question. apple is the most profitable company ever and they got that way by SELLING devices, not trying to generate hype by choosing not to sell devices they could be selling. their CEO has already stated they just can't make things fast enough. there is no sane reason why iPhone 6 delays were weeks and weeks other than manufacturing constraint, as their CEO said.
if you don't get this simple fact (they'd rather be SELLING devices for profit than not selling), then i have to question whether you're in a competent position to own stock.
an opinion is fine. But that does not mean you need to go on every single topic about the MacBook and say you won't buy it. He already stated his case weeks ago that he wasn't going to buy it. Do we really need dozens of people posting why they are not buying the watch on EVERY SINGLE THREAD about the watch? do we?
He can post whatever he wants, however often he wants, as long as he's being polite about it. Of course, he should also the expect the inevitable pushback. But your posts are tantamount to the suggestion that someone should not post about something unless they plan to buy it (at least, that's the way I interpreted it).
Tourists stand in line for the stupidest of things. I'm talking about the general population of an area.
New LV product intros are often accompanied by lines from the "general population" in the various cities too (esp. Asia). In fact, you see this phenomenon outside some trendy fashion stores in cities like Manhattan when some totally new, cool fashion item is being introduced.
I've got no problem in principle with this approachto sales but are you able to play with the watch without having to make an appointment?
I do have one issue though. By the time I've had my appointment and decided I want to buy one, I have to then order. No problem. It's highly likely that preorders will have been long sold out by then so my desire to actually try the thing out actually penalises me.
More power to those who buy unseen, but fence sitting will have its consequences.
See my comment, #134, that dug into the issue of taking the risk to buy sight unseen versus waiting until you can touch the thing. Cheers.
you're mistaken. you can definitely store music on the watch you can actually listen to it on a run sans phone. remember -- apps running off the phone are coming to this generation later this year. the only thing it will lack is gps.
Already recoginized that, some twenty messages back...
1. Hundreds of Kittens are found dead in California every year.
2. Tim Cook lives in California.
3. This means Tim Cook murders Kittens.
1. Apple does not have enough supply to meet demand on product launches.
2. This means Apple artificially throttles supply for marketing purposes.
Seriously. How stupid can we be?
Again the burden of proof is on the accuser. If you accuse Tim Cook of murdering Kittens you better have some solid proof. If you accuse Apple of artificially throttling supply to build up hype you better have some solid proof. And no, third hand information off the record from some random clown at Alfa Romeo does not qualify as solid proof.
Third hand information off the record from some random clown at Alfa Romeo who is trying to associate his brand with Apple in order to justify his own shady marketing techniques does not qualify as solid proof. Lets just get the guy's motivation on the table while we're having the discussion. And the listener, predisposed to believing such tripe, slurps it up and regurgitates it here on AI. Whichever one of our resident trolls it was, its too far back in the comment thread for me to want to bother identifying. But I think I blocked him, so some good came of his accusation. :-)
See my comment, #134, that dug into the issue of taking the risk to buy sight unseen versus waiting until you can touch the thing. Cheers.
See my message of you not really taking a risk because apple takes back the watch for "any" reason for 14 days. So there could be tons of refurbs for sale soon!
Comments
I truly wish them the best of luck... but the pricing of these watches is ridiculous. I was expecting the price to be half as much and I was still not convinced I needed one. But now it's a definite no.
$175 was your deal breaker point?
Well once newer versions come out there will likely be a secondary market of refurbished and used ones if you become interested at that price, older iPhones are available that way.
I doubt the music will be stored on the Watch. The Watch will be a controller for music stored on your iPhone. It would make zero sense for Apple to expect those with large music libraries to have to pick and choose a subset of their music to download to the Watch when the Watch already needs your iPhone present to provide the earbud jack to wired earbuds/headphones or bluetooth connection to wireless earbuds/headphones or a bluetooth enabled stereo. Remember, the bluetooth connection from your watch to the phone is BLE, not the same as the standard bluetooth connection used to beam music to wireless bluetooth speakers, earbuds and headphones. Apple is neither going to fill up available storage on the Watch with music, nor are they going to suck the watch battery dry beaming music from it.
you're mistaken. you can definitely store music on the watch you can actually listen to it on a run sans phone. remember -- apps running off the phone are coming to this generation later this year. the only thing it will lack is gps.
Or go in store, try one on and order it when you get home, or on your phone while you're in the store.
^This. Not all that difficult.
I'm a little puzzled by the lowering of the store profile, but maybe they have market research to back it up AND the diverse number of models has to be a logistics nightmare and maybe they just don't want to constantly be turning away people for being out of stock of whatever becomes popular?
I've got no problem in principle with this approachto sales but are you able to play with the watch without having to make an appointment?
I do have one issue though. By the time I've had my appointment and decided I want to buy one, I have to then order. No problem. It's highly likely that preorders will have been long sold out by then so my desire to actually try the thing out actually penalises me.
More power to those who buy unseen, but fence sitting will have its consequences.
Post Day One when the nonsense wears off I completely expect so. Unless they can't figure out how to tether the things securely.
So how does it make any sense to a customer to be able to go into a store and try something on, something that does not need tailoring or fitting thereafter, find the one you want, and then have to wait a week before you can place an order? How does it make any sense for a business to tempt people with a product that they have travelled to your store to try on to then not allow that customer to get into the order queue? You seem to be thinking there are two distinct classes of customers that somehow need to be given fair access. The customers who need to see it in person first and those who don't. Nope. They are the same customers. Each may choose which group to belong to. If you choose to take the risk of ordering without first seeing and trying it on in person, you are rewarded for that risk by being earlier in the queue. Don't you see how this balances out?
This type of buying occurs all the time, such as when new housing or condo developments are being constructed. You can take the risk that you will like the property without seeing it fully constructed and doing a walk-through and you are rewarded for taking that risk by being able to select your plot of land for your home construction or floor/view in a condo tower ahead of other buyers. Those who make a purchase decision early are offered some incentive, some reward, benefit or advantage for having taken a risk.
Because when you walk out of the try on, you'll be able to order it but the shipping delay could be 4 or more weeks. This is a new kind of device. Most people buying it would not have worn a watch for years, if at all.The whole point of the try on is to try it on and see what one to buy. If you want the watch in any reasonable time you will need to buy it online before the stores even open. This sets up people buying a watch which might not fit them right. Meaning returns, maybe lots of them. Which could be potentially avoided if you let people try it on before the hordes order it.
The only risk for the customer is they will need to return and get a different one which might take a while. When they return it, it means apple has to refurbish it and reduce the price since it was already sold. So apple would be more of the loser here.
Now you're really asking for it. If good cop thompr doesn't break you, bad cop sog35 should have you asking for mercy.
But no, you have to go before the Council of Apple ethicists. Principle number one is that Apple does not do what business schools say a company should do. They aren't doing things for the bloody return on investment. It is out of the question that they would tinker with their pioneering well-oiled global supply machine, the most intricate in world history, to achieve a shabby end like desire manipulation, like the obsolete and morally bankrupt American business schools recommend.
You didn't drink the Kool-Aid you say? Maybe you should have drunk the Merry Pranksters' punch. To see what Steve Jobs saw—how to change the world for the better.
AngAhs doesn't understand the basic relationship that the Mac users and potential users have with the company. When you bring people into the store, you invite them into your home - so to speak. And that makes a personal relationship possible. And that leads to sales. I know Apple stands above the rest of the industry in its approach to product, service and retail experience. But Apple doesn't need a stick-your-nose-up-in-the-air British caste system to define its market place.
what on earth are you talking about? what caste system, specifically?
also, mac owners are in the minority of apple customers these days.
So here's a question that is unclear in all cases, including the press release: Will online preorders be handled at the store level or not? It would be unwise to have people try on watches, then allow them to walk out the door without encouraging them to place their preorder RIGHT THEN AND THERE with the assistance of an Apple employee, if they are so inclined. This is Sales 101... Close the deal!
Do you seriously believe Apple has not considered this? And that, if they decided not to do so, there wasn't a legitimate reason for it?
You have a serious problem with paying attention to details.
Not buying the 1st gen watch. Again, THE FIRST GENERATION OF APPLE WATCH. Is anyone home?
So they are taking reservations for the SECOND generation Apple Watch on the 10th?
You still have not explained why you are so concerned about the pre-order details since you have ZERO intention of buying the Watch this Month.
C'mon sog35. Cool down. Are you seriously saying someone should post about something related to an Apple product on AI only if they actually plan to buy it or have already bought it?
For example, I have absolutely no plans to buy the new MacBook. Does that mean I don't (or shouldn't) have an opinion on it?
I appreciate your passion but I feel you're not thinking clearly.
It's just as ridiculous to say they do not and I can just as easily say that there is no proof that they don't. I'm not trolling, just stating the obvious. If no definitive marketing plan is spoken about or made public, it can go either way, no? You are stating, in an absolute manner, that they don't, but, since nothing is ever said, I feel it's completely plausible that they do. No CEO, in their right mind, is going to share their specific marketing practice(s).
To think they would is just plain silly.
I find it interesting that the VP from Alfa Romeo mentioned Apple specifically, which was during a one-on-one conversation and pretty much off the record. I don't think he felt that some attendee at a car show is going to have the power to blow the whistle on a particular marketing practice. Nonetheless, this is what he told me, which certainly adds some color and credence to the 'planned-constrained-supply-as-a-marketing-ploy' argument.
dude. your Alfa VP doesn't know shit about shit -- he's not an insider, nobody at apple told him any company secrets. give it up.
as for constraint -- Cook has already stated "We can't make them fast enough!" thats the constraint. those guys and gals at foxconn are already pulling crazy hours to produce all this stuff. there is no other reason to believe its a conspiracy, and if you're going to claim there is then the burden of proof is on you.
get real.
The problem is...almost everyone here seems to be taking extreme positions without using an open mind and not accepting the fact that IT IS POSSIBLE that Apple uses this technique, also. I'm not stating that they do or don't, just merely suggesting that it's not out of the question.
nope - its out of the question. apple is the most profitable company ever and they got that way by SELLING devices, not trying to generate hype by choosing not to sell devices they could be selling. their CEO has already stated they just can't make things fast enough. there is no sane reason why iPhone 6 delays were weeks and weeks other than manufacturing constraint, as their CEO said.
if you don't get this simple fact (they'd rather be SELLING devices for profit than not selling), then i have to question whether you're in a competent position to own stock.
Can you imagine hundreds of people waiting in line to buy the latest LouisVutton bag? Hell no.
Apparently, you've never been to Paris. There are always dozens of (typically Japanese) tourists lined up around the block from the flagship LV store on Champs Elysses: http://m8.i.pbase.com/g4/25/480025/2/133264428.lK7Q8c07.jpg
In fact, in other cities too, like Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Because this is standard troll meme -- and one that has been repeatedly and thoroughly discredited -- when it comes to Apple products.
Heard the derisive phrase "Apple Tax"?
an opinion is fine. But that does not mean you need to go on every single topic about the MacBook and say you won't buy it. He already stated his case weeks ago that he wasn't going to buy it. Do we really need dozens of people posting why they are not buying the watch on EVERY SINGLE THREAD about the watch? do we?
He can post whatever he wants, however often he wants, as long as he's being polite about it. Of course, he should also the expect the inevitable pushback. But your posts are tantamount to the suggestion that someone should not post about something unless they plan to buy it (at least, that's the way I interpreted it).
Tourists stand in line for the stupidest of things. I'm talking about the general population of an area.
New LV product intros are often accompanied by lines from the "general population" in the various cities too (esp. Asia). In fact, you see this phenomenon outside some trendy fashion stores in cities like Manhattan when some totally new, cool fashion item is being introduced.
I've got no problem in principle with this approachto sales but are you able to play with the watch without having to make an appointment?
I do have one issue though. By the time I've had my appointment and decided I want to buy one, I have to then order. No problem. It's highly likely that preorders will have been long sold out by then so my desire to actually try the thing out actually penalises me.
More power to those who buy unseen, but fence sitting will have its consequences.
See my comment, #134, that dug into the issue of taking the risk to buy sight unseen versus waiting until you can touch the thing. Cheers.
you're mistaken. you can definitely store music on the watch you can actually listen to it on a run sans phone. remember -- apps running off the phone are coming to this generation later this year. the only thing it will lack is gps.
Already recoginized that, some twenty messages back...
never seen this in the USA. Asia is different because the vast price differences in countries.
Perhaps you should travel a bit more (including to Manhattan)....
1. Hundreds of Kittens are found dead in California every year.
2. Tim Cook lives in California.
3. This means Tim Cook murders Kittens.
1. Apple does not have enough supply to meet demand on product launches.
2. This means Apple artificially throttles supply for marketing purposes.
Seriously. How stupid can we be?
Again the burden of proof is on the accuser. If you accuse Tim Cook of murdering Kittens you better have some solid proof. If you accuse Apple of artificially throttling supply to build up hype you better have some solid proof. And no, third hand information off the record from some random clown at Alfa Romeo does not qualify as solid proof.
Third hand information off the record from some random clown at Alfa Romeo who is trying to associate his brand with Apple in order to justify his own shady marketing techniques does not qualify as solid proof. Lets just get the guy's motivation on the table while we're having the discussion. And the listener, predisposed to believing such tripe, slurps it up and regurgitates it here on AI. Whichever one of our resident trolls it was, its too far back in the comment thread for me to want to bother identifying. But I think I blocked him, so some good came of his accusation. :-)
See my comment, #134, that dug into the issue of taking the risk to buy sight unseen versus waiting until you can touch the thing. Cheers.
See my message of you not really taking a risk because apple takes back the watch for "any" reason for 14 days.So there could be tons of refurbs for sale soon!