Apple starts charging Apple Watch orders, preparing units for shipping

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Comments

  • Reply 101 of 116

    Looks like I won't be getting mine tomorrow. SS with the Milanese loop.

     

    Ordered 302am, confirmation at 304am. Still being processed and Apple has not hit my debit card. Bummed.

  • Reply 102 of 116
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member

    My current UPS status: at 1:50 AM it was in Harrisburg PA. An hour or so later it's in the "United States." The way I read it, the molecules of my Apple Watch are now scattered across the country, awaiting reassembly on my doorstep some time tomorrow. Amazon can experiment all they want with drone deliveries, but this is way cooler.

     
















    Harrisburg, PA, United States 04/23/2015 1:50 A.M. Package is in transit to a UPS facility
    United States 04/23/2015 3:32 A.M. Order Processed: Ready for UPS
  • Reply 103 of 116
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    My ? Watch with white sport band showed Preparing for Shipment up to last night. I got the confirmation email of the order at 2:06 AM CST. I figured I wouldn't get it by Friday since estimated delivery said 4/24-5/8. Then I got this notification this morning ????

    400

    I just got mine :) freaking awesome! Can't wait till tomorrow
  • Reply 104 of 116
    I ordered my SS 42mm Milanese Loop at 3:07am on 4/10/15. I was also quoted a 4/25-5/8 delivery window.

    This afternoon in 3 hours time I went from Processing to Preparing to Ship to Shipped with a delivery scheduled for tomorrow.

    So to those 42mm SS Milanese Loopers out there, DON'T GIVE UP HOPE!!!!
  • Reply 105 of 116

    Both my 38mm and 42mm Sport watches arrives at 9AM this morning.  Extra charging cables came yesterday.  I was surprised at the packaging as they came in a long, thin box and it was surprisingly heavy.

     

    I immediately opened the 42mm up and paired it with my iPhone (done by holding the watch up to the camera in the watch app).  A few settings and iCloud authentication and I was synced up.

     

    The interface will take a bit of getting used to, but the online guided tours are very good.

     

    Glad I saved the $200 and got the sport model as the band is cool and by the time I break these, the SS model will be cheaper (I hope)

  • Reply 106 of 116
    Ahhhh!!! My 38mm black and space grey Sport watch is being delivered tomorrow! I was pretty bummed about not getting it on Friday, but I'm really excited now. I hope that other folks who were quoted 4/24-5/8 for this model are getting theirs early this week too.
  • Reply 107 of 116
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Scott_in_Manhattan View Post



    Ahhhh!!! My 38mm black and space grey Sport watch is being delivered tomorrow! I was pretty bummed about not getting it on Friday, but I'm really excited now. I hope that other folks who were quoted 4/24-5/8 for this model are getting theirs early this week too.

    Congratulations. :) I ordered at 12:13am on 4/10, and was quoted a delivery date between 5/13-5/27. My account hasn't yet been charged, and my shipping information hasn't changed at all in that time. I ordered the same watch as you. :(

  • Reply 108 of 116
    krawallkrawall Posts: 162member

    I ordered mine late on 17th of April and it has shipped today. I seem to be getting it tomorrow.

     

    I was quoted June as delivery, ... So they must have improved something. Apple sport w/ blue band.

  • Reply 109 of 116
    Payment was taken for my 42mm Space Grey Apple Watch Sport, with black sports band, last night at 10. Hoping this means it ships today for delivery tomorrow. Fingers crossed! I was a recipient of the "email of death". Seems like the ones who received this may be getting shipments this week. My confirmation email arrived to me at 2:04 am central time, to help with perspective.

    I'll update when it ships.
  • Reply 110 of 116
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Krawall View Post

     

    I ordered mine late on 17th of April and it has shipped today. I seem to be getting it tomorrow.

     

    I was quoted June as delivery, ... So they must have improved something. Apple sport w/ blue band.


    I'm thinking it definitely has to do with what model/band combination was ordered; you ordered 7 days after me, and you're getting your Watch before my account has even been charged, and my shipment status is still "Processing".  I ordered a 38mm Sport w/ black band.  It'll come, I have no doubt, but Apple seems to be taking their sweet time, which remains frustrating.

  • Reply 111 of 116
    42mm space grey with black sports band will be arriving tomorrow, finally! Looks like those who got the "email of death" might be seeing their watch this week. I've seen a lot of activity surrounding that correlation on the web.

    Just to give some perspective potentially. I received my confirmation email at 2:04am central time. Just a few minutes after preorders went live. If you were close to that time be on the lookout!
  • Reply 112 of 116



    Apple seems to have taken a "SocioEconomic" marketing plan in its approach to Watch delivery...  I ordered mine in the first 21 minutes and was told to anticipate a late June delivery.  Out of curiosity, I called into Sales and asked about anticipated delivery on new orders and they said early to mid June...  The preorder process a FAIL!!!

  • Reply 113 of 116
    iaeeniaeen Posts: 588member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JohnGaltLives View Post

     

    I'm thinking it definitely has to do with what model/band combination was ordered; you ordered 7 days after me, and you're getting your Watch before my account has even been charged, and my shipment status is still "Processing".  I ordered a 38mm Sport w/ black band.  It'll come, I have no doubt, but Apple seems to be taking their sweet time, which remains frustrating.




    It definitely depends on what combination you ordered. Rumor has it that so far there have been no link bracelets shipped yet. The gray sport has been confirmed in the wild, but it does seem to be a rare model.

  • Reply 114 of 116
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by UofMgrad01 View Post

     



    Apple seems to have taken a "SocioEconomic" marketing plan in its approach to Watch delivery...  I ordered mine in the first 21 minutes and was told to anticipate a late June delivery.  Out of curiosity, I called into Sales and asked about anticipated delivery on new orders and they said early to mid June...  The preorder process a FAIL!!!


    I'm not certain I'd call it a "failure", but there are definitely some issues here, and Apple's silence on it isn't encouraging. There are a few scenarios that seem likely here. Inference helps us reach a reasonable conclusion that there were more of a given size/model/band combination of the Watch pre-manufactured for a 4/24 release. The Slice info out there seems to point to the 38mm Space Gray/Black Band Sport being the most-ordered version of the Watch (which is also what I ordered).  Prevailing theory is this has more to do with price ($349 is the least-expensive Watch) and common proclivities than anything else (black is a fairly neutral color that goes with almost anything). If the vast bulk of preorders at midnight on 4/10 were for those, then naturally whatever was prefabbed sold out in 5 or 6 minutes (general poking around on the 'net seems to point to few people getting an initial delivery date of 4/24 if they ordered past around 12:06am).

     

    Peppered into those orders were orders for the more expensive stainless steel (the black version of which seems to have gone the fastest) with the Classic band.

     

    Some people seem to have had their initial June/late May preorder estimates moved up, which shows that Apple had smaller numbers of those Watch combos to fabricate to make up for preorders. There are people who ordered as late as the 17th or 18th who now have their Watches today (4/28).

     

    The frustration comes from Apple's silence on not only the sales numbers, but the breakdown of those numbers: how many of what Watch combinations were made, how many were preordered, and how many will see no movement on their status until the manufacturing catches up?

     

    My 38mm Space Gray/Black Band Sport has seen zero movement on the estimated delivery date (5/13-5/27) since I got my confirmation at 12:16am (my order was placed at 12:13am on 4/10). The charge hasn't hit my card, so on two fronts I have no ability to get updates on when I can expect my Watch past that two-week span of time that in a worst-case scenario is up to 33 days after the official release date.

     

    If we accept the likely scenario that the Space Gray/Black Band Sport was the most heavily-ordered, the next logical question to ask Apple is "Why aren't you shifting manufacturing priorities to insure the largest bulk of preorders are filled?" We don't know that they aren't, but not seeing any movement (at least on my end) makes me suspicious that may be the case.

     

    We also don't know how long the actual start-to-finish production of a given Watch takes. I'm assuming the Watches are likely on two assembly lines: one for the 38mm and one for the 42mm.  The core Watch itself is then spread out to be matched up with an appropriate band and then boxed, and once a pallet is full, that pallet has to be moved to shipping. They're likely being manufactured overseas. So for an American like me, I have to wait for my Watch combo to be made, packaged, shipped from the plant to a U.S. distribution center (Apple has, what, two or three here?), and from there it has to be given to UPS and sent to my location. And I have no information on how long that cradle-to-grave takes, I only know from others' experience that once UPS has it, I should (barring unforeseen complications) have it in my hands one business day later.

     

    But Apple isn't talking about its supply chain timelines. They aren't letting us know which build combos are the most heavily-ordered, and which will have the least likelihood to be shipped sooner vs. later. That silence removes control from the customer, which naturally leads to frustration.

     

    Exacerbating the problem is the reality that while everyone was told to preorder online, that none would be in Apple Stores on 4/24, there's at least one store per country of release that had 4/24 in-store stock. The natural question then is why there would be stock available to them when there's a backlog of preorders (which unless canceled are guaranteed money).  Again, Apple remains silent on that front. They have no social media presence, which prevents people from contacting them in a public fashion which incentivizes their response (Twitter is great for this). Customer service reps in the stores and on the phone and on chat don't have answers: they're looking at the same order number we are, and seeing the same information we do.

  • Reply 115 of 116
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    Finally! My second ? watch is on the way :) be here tomorrow. 38 mm space gray for the wife. Is not fun being the only one with ?Watch. Well it is fun, but it will be more! :)
  • Reply 116 of 116

    Card charged and watch will be here tomorrow :)

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