Fourth-gen Apple TV now available for in-store pickup at Apple Stores, Best Buy
The new Apple TV is available for in-store pickup on Friday not only at Apple Stores, but also for some Best Buy shoppers, who previously didn't expect to have any pickups until next week.
American shoppers looking to order online from Apple but pick up at a local Apple Store today should currently be able to do so, with inventory trackers showing wide availability. Though it's also possible to simply walk into an Apple Store and buy a model, ordering online offers the advantage of a reservation.
When Best Buy began accepting preorders earlier this week, it originally predicted pickups no earlier than Nov. 4. A number of early buyers have received word, however, that their devices are ready today, according to MacRumors.
People wanting to place new online orders from Best Buy are out of luck -- both the 32- and 64-gigabyte set-tops are listed as unavailable, whether for delivery or pickup. In each case the retailer is charging 99 cents more than Apple, which sells its models for $149 and $199, respectively.
The fourth-generation Apple TV is a major redesign, introducing Siri voice commands, a touchpad remote, platform-agnostic search, and most importantly support for iOS-style apps, downloaded through a dedicated App Store.
American shoppers looking to order online from Apple but pick up at a local Apple Store today should currently be able to do so, with inventory trackers showing wide availability. Though it's also possible to simply walk into an Apple Store and buy a model, ordering online offers the advantage of a reservation.
When Best Buy began accepting preorders earlier this week, it originally predicted pickups no earlier than Nov. 4. A number of early buyers have received word, however, that their devices are ready today, according to MacRumors.
People wanting to place new online orders from Best Buy are out of luck -- both the 32- and 64-gigabyte set-tops are listed as unavailable, whether for delivery or pickup. In each case the retailer is charging 99 cents more than Apple, which sells its models for $149 and $199, respectively.
The fourth-generation Apple TV is a major redesign, introducing Siri voice commands, a touchpad remote, platform-agnostic search, and most importantly support for iOS-style apps, downloaded through a dedicated App Store.
Comments
no Apple Tv in Austin, Tx arboretum store ... the agent looked at me dumbfoundedly.
Yeah, I know, can do what fallenjt is doing, but why should I have to go through all that trouble when I played the game to avoid it?
Yeah this is a joke. Apple had to know on Monday that it would be available in stores on Friday. But there was no press release telling us that and when you went online to order it didn't say about store availability. I didn't do the express shipping but as of this morning my order was preparing for shipment. I cancelled too but it's possible the box will still come to my house and I'll have to return it to the store. Of course none of this is a big deal in the grand scheme of things but one of the reasons we pay a premium for Apple products is user experience and this is not the greatest UX.
I'm seeing PO'd people in my Twitter feed who paid $17 for rush shipping not knowing it would be in stores today. I know when I ordered mine on Monday it didn't say anything about being available in store. If it had I never would have ordered online.
I'm not happy about paying the $17 to get it today (now Monday thanks to UPS). I would have never ordered it online had I known I could have gone to the Apple Store to purchase it today. I don't understand why Apple didn't announce until after the fact you could purchase it in the store.
OR you guys can just wait until your online order comes in the mail and stop crying about it. You have somehow managed to live your entire lives without an Apple TV 4th Gen, but now for some reason, you are acting as if 72 hours difference is life or death.
Ordering online never guarantees that you will have it before it arrives in stores. I have pre-ordered almost all of my iPhones and they usually arrive within 2 weeks of launch day. Ordering online just saves you the hassle of driving to the store (not everyone lives near an Apple Store) and guarantees that you will be receiving one in the near future. (like the iPhones)
First world problems.
dude. Thats the risk you take. No one forced you to order online. At least you will save $ driving
I just picked up mine a few minutes ago from my local Apple store. Sweet!
I agree. And not trying to be an apologist for Rog or Bolts but it would have been better customer service for Apple to announce last week that ATV would be available in some stores on Oct 30 in limited supply. That would give customers a little more info on which to base their "risks".
But yes, 1st world problem and I don't feel sorry for them.
It's not about that. You can't tell me Apple didn't know on Monday that stores would be getting ?TV today. It would have been real easy during the checkout process to offer an in store pickup option. Had they offered that I would have done it. I have a store 15 minutes from me.
Go check Rene Ritchie's Twitter feed and it's full of people asking if a certain app is available for ?TV, if the remote app works with ?TV, if you can use Bluetooth keyboard with ?TV etc. etc. etc. and for every one his answer is either not yet or hopefully soon. I complained about there not being some sort of universal login option and sure enough a number of reviews I've read and podcasts I've listened too say typing in passwords on ?TV sucks. Christina Warrennat Mashable said it is a pain in the ass. Here's an idea: when you first power up ?TV have it ask you if you have a cable subscription and if you say yes, it has you enter an ID and password that it stores. Then, any app that requires that ID and password could just use that stored information instead of you have to enter it for every single app that requires it. There has to be some way Apple could make the process a better experience. They've been working on this thing for at least 3 years.
Again we pay a premium for Apple products because we expect a better user experience. When I don't think Apple is delivering one I'm going to call them on it.
I don't remember asking anyone to feel sorry for me. :rolleyes:
I spotted four people ahead of me also buying it; wondering if will sell out over the weekend.
If I were Apple, I also wouldn't have made any announcement of when Apple TVs would be available in-store. It's a smart business move. This boosts online sales and gets people comfortable with the process of ordering Apple TVs from apple's website/iOS app. (now that Amazon.com has banned the sale of Apple TVs on their site)
I was able to order it effortlessly on my iPhone via the Apple Store app and paid with Apple Pay. I'm sure many people this week went to Apple's site/app looking for a in-store release date, but instead just saw a "Buy Now" button and ended up buying online.
Most Apple TVs were purchased through Amazon last year.
Yeah it looks like stores are plenty stocked so this had to be planned out. I hate complaining but it just bugs me when the Apple UX is subpar. Like ?TV can grab your wifi credentials from your iPhone but not iTunes or iCloud. The fewer passwords you have to enter into the device the better. I have to wonder, did Apple employees actually test entering passwords on this device? If they did could they possibly think it was a good experience?
Apple has publicly said that they don't like the process of having to login to every single channel app. I'm pretty sure the cable networks are the ones who made the process that way. This process is like that on my Xbox One as well.
I'm not sure why you felt the urge to preorder a device that you feel is subpar. I'm sure you can wait until next week to receive this crappy piece of hardware/software that Apple has forced you to buy.