Apple to offer 'Apple Watch Basics' Workshops at retail stores starting April 24
Apple's retail website was recently updated to reflect upcoming availability of a new Workshop called Apple Watch Basics, suggesting the company plans to roll out device training sessions for early Watch buyers from day one.
The Apple Watch Basics workshop is showing up as a Concierge option on a few individual Apple Store pages, allowing customers to set appointments for April 24 at locations like Xidan Joy City in China. Reservations can also be made through the Apple Store iOS app.
Describing what to expect from the session, Apple writes, "Bring your Apple Watch -- along with your iPhone -- and get familiar with your most personal device yet. We'll show you how to get started using Glances, gestures, watch faces, and more."
As noted by MacRumors, which spotted the workshop option earlier today, most Apple Stores currently offering Apple Watch Basics workshops hold the sessions every 90 minutes, though only select locations have reservations open for launch day.
It is unclear if Apple is planning a global workshop rollout, though reservations are currently limited to a small number of stores. Interestingly, some major flagship stores, like the Fifth Avenue outlet in New York, are not yet accepting reservations despite their proximity to huge pockets of potential customers.
Apple offers a number of in-store workshops designed to help customers better understand newly purchased products, whether it be hardware or software. Classes vary store-to-store, but most make staff available to help guide users with iPhone, iPad, Mac and major software releases.
Apple Watch owners can check with their local Apple Store for workshop availability. After seeing massive demand eat up launch supply within minutes of going live, it seems Apple is also extending workshop reservations to preorder customers who have to wait weeks, or in some cases months, for their Watch to arrive.
While Apple declined to release official preorder numbers, analysts speculate early adopters purchased upwards of one million Apple Watch units during its first weekend of sales. Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo pegged preorders to be closer to 2.3 million. In any case, supply is such that Apple told employees on Thursday not to expect in-store Watch purchases until June, at the earliest.
The Apple Watch Basics workshop is showing up as a Concierge option on a few individual Apple Store pages, allowing customers to set appointments for April 24 at locations like Xidan Joy City in China. Reservations can also be made through the Apple Store iOS app.
Describing what to expect from the session, Apple writes, "Bring your Apple Watch -- along with your iPhone -- and get familiar with your most personal device yet. We'll show you how to get started using Glances, gestures, watch faces, and more."
As noted by MacRumors, which spotted the workshop option earlier today, most Apple Stores currently offering Apple Watch Basics workshops hold the sessions every 90 minutes, though only select locations have reservations open for launch day.
It is unclear if Apple is planning a global workshop rollout, though reservations are currently limited to a small number of stores. Interestingly, some major flagship stores, like the Fifth Avenue outlet in New York, are not yet accepting reservations despite their proximity to huge pockets of potential customers.
Apple offers a number of in-store workshops designed to help customers better understand newly purchased products, whether it be hardware or software. Classes vary store-to-store, but most make staff available to help guide users with iPhone, iPad, Mac and major software releases.
Apple Watch owners can check with their local Apple Store for workshop availability. After seeing massive demand eat up launch supply within minutes of going live, it seems Apple is also extending workshop reservations to preorder customers who have to wait weeks, or in some cases months, for their Watch to arrive.
While Apple declined to release official preorder numbers, analysts speculate early adopters purchased upwards of one million Apple Watch units during its first weekend of sales. Noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo pegged preorders to be closer to 2.3 million. In any case, supply is such that Apple told employees on Thursday not to expect in-store Watch purchases until June, at the earliest.
Comments
I really, really, really want one! It's a very frustrating wait - waiting for it to launch here.
Now, my order is showing a dispatch date of June.
So I can't see them ramping up production to a rate of fulfilling current orders and further pre-orders in time to launch in store by June.
Yes. /s
This is such an important weapon that Apple has over everyone else, that short-sighted morons can't understand. The ability to educate consumers. People troll that "nobody wants a watch"? Well, Apple will convince people as to WHY they would want one.
I agree. And I'd add that we're just beginning to see the uses to which the ?Watch can and will be put.
An interesting one I came across is a metronome app which uses "taptic." Now there's some innovation which will help countless musicians and performers keep track of their rhythms.
[QUOTE]Apple Watch user-interface still seems confusing? There’s a workshop for that …[/QUOTE]
Um last time I checked Apple stores have workshops on lots of things. My local store has ones on iPhone, iPad and Mac basics. Why are some sites trying to spin this as ?Watch is so confusing the stores have to hold workshops on it? :rolleyes:
Someone -- I forget who -- had come up with this idea on these boards a few days ago.
I hope it'll get AirPlay functionality at some point. Should be a fairly easy software fix for Apple?
A few million may have a preorder receipt, but the amount of people that have one right now likely numbers in the hundred or low thousands.
Still your raging auto-retort.
As we see the rollout progress it would appear that Apple may have concerns about users wearing the Watch sporadically rather than all the time.. It would seem that simply controlling the device is an art not easily grasped.
The Apple Watch, CNET's reviewer said, "requires a lot of attention".
Interesting.
The fact that only a "handful" of people will have them by the 24th kind of implies that this is not so much a "training" program to teach people how to use their new watch. It's more like an advertising/marketing ploy to get people who haven't yet preordered excited by how much it can do, how easy it is to use and how great it looks and feels on their wrist! It's a brilliant strategy!
I really, really, really want one! It's a very frustrating wait - waiting for it to launch here.
I'm different. I just cancelled my pre-order for Apr 24 delivery yesterday after went to Apple store to try on the watch. 38mm is too small for me and I would say for any man on the planet too. So, I order Space Gray 42mm Sport. It looks subtle as well as elegant. I was torn between SS and Sport, but decided to save $200 for not having the shiny finish /s...well Sapphire screen too.
This is the headline on 9to5Mac:
Um last time I checked Apple stores have workshops on lots of things. My local store has ones on iPhone, iPad and Mac basics. Why are some sites trying to spin this as ?Watch is so confusing the stores have to hold workshops on it?
The ? Watch's taptic engine presents an entirely new "language" for how a device communicates with you, and there's no way it's going to be instantly as intuitive as press, drag, pinch-to-zoom, listen to Siri feedback, etc.
So I do believe that this new platform will, in fact, have a much steeper learning curve than what Apple has presented to us before. Apple supporters (like those of us here) are going to reject this and say, "no way, can't be so!" and the Apple detractors will laugh out loud when it actually proves to be so.
How about we just get in front of the train and acknowledge that there will be some learning to do in this new world, but that when all is said and done, Apple will show that they are STILL the kings of the elegant human interface.
Someone -- I forget who -- had come up with this idea on these boards a few days ago.
I hope it'll get AirPlay functionality at some point. Should be a fairly easy software fix for Apple?
If I understand correctly, the usefulness of this app is that it will be tapping you quietly on the wrist to help you keep your time. How would you employ AirPlay functionality?
Wow, the frustration level of controlling the amount, volume, and intensity of the tech delivered by an Apple Watch must be great enough to require instruction.
As we see the rollout progress it would appear that Apple may have concerns about users wearing the Watch sporadically rather than all the time.. It would seem that simply controlling the device is an art not easily grasped.
The Apple Watch, CNET's reviewer said, "requires a lot of attention".
Interesting.
There is a whole new language that needs to be learned (different types of "tap" on the wrist) and it had to be developed by convention instead of intuition. In the past, Apple was able to just build intuitive things based on sight, sound, and touch. But "taps" coming back to you from a device... there's very little experience to draw intuition from. Of course there will be a learning curve. This is not something that Apple bashers should crow over nor Apple fanboys (like me) should defend against.
Get ready for it, and watch Apple train the people to use this new platform in an elegant manner. Then watch all of the smartwatch vendors build in "taptic engines" of their own and Google adopt the same tap language that Apple determined was best.
If I understand correctly, the usefulness of this app is that it will be tapping you quietly on the wrist to help you keep your time.
Yes, that is exactly what that person had described on AI. I am forgetting his name.
Quote:
At a minimum, it would be great to have the convenience of anything streamed form the iPhone (photos, music, who knows, some day, video) to be played through my TV or stereo. If I do screen shots of a short document (e.g., Keynote presentation, PDF or Pages file), I can project that on to an AirPlay-enabled screen.
There are also some things like music that the Watch can stream on its own (I think it can store photos too?), so I could stream those via an AirPlay-enabled device independently of the iPhone.