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If You Want To Buy an Apple Watch In-Store, You'll Need a Reservation
An anonymous reader writes "Good news for those of you thinking of buying an Apple watch but were concerned the experience wouldn't feel exclusive enough. According to MacRumors there will be no walk-in sales the first few weeks of launch. Instead, you'll have to call the store and make reservations. From the article: "Apple will begin offering online pre-sales of the Apple Watch starting on April 10th, with the first deliveries occurring on April 24th, the official Apple Watch launch date. During those two weeks, customers will be able to have hands-on 'try-on' appointments at Apple retail stores in order to help make up their mind. However, according to training documents that MacRumors has received, Apple is not allowing any walk-in retail purchases for the Apple Watch at launch. Instead customers must make an online 'Product Reservation' to hold a specific Apple Watch model at a retail store. This new 'Product Reservation' system is used instead of Apple's 'Personal Pickup' system for Apple Watches. Apple's retail training documents indicate that 'If a customer walks in and wants to purchase a watch, offer the option to try on a watch. Then help them place an order online or through the Apple Store app.'"
These guys really are brilliant marketers. Famously brilliant. People who define themselves by the shit they own will eat this up!
I don't respond to AC's.
Yeah, I see this going well.
This runs contrary to any experience I've had with Apple, especially in their retail stores. If I can't walk in and try something without booking an appointment, it'll be awhile before I get around to buying one.
Boo, hiss. I hope they get an earful over this.
..don't panic
At that price, they ought to be begging ME to buy, it, not the other way around.
This stance also applies to Bentley, Rolex, Cartier, Mont Blanc, etc.
And WINDOZE people.
This to me would seem a way to not end up with too much unbought stock. Let people see and try, but still have to order an wait so you don't have to keep oodles in stock. I fully expect this thing to be a massive flop.
and all the free publicity and hype that goes along with it.
Yes, this seems like a much more calm and sensible way to purchase Apple products.
Artificial scarcity. Loss aversion. Marketing: The art of making people feel like they're losing something that they don't even have yet. This offer may never be repeated. Only valid while supplies last. Order now and get a free dildo with your Apple watch.
And still people are deathly afraid of deflation. The consumer electronics market has for decades been delivering better products to those who wait, but people still fall over themselves and jump through hoops to GET. SHIT. NOW.
You want one? You can't have one :P
I wonder if this is the consequence of no child left behind?
It makes sense though, they know how well iPhone, iPads and all their other iProducts sell but the Apple Watch is new and is not likely to sell anywhere near as well as those other products. This way they can save on manufacturing tons of watches and having them shipped to all the stores just for them to sit on the shelves. Sure it'll reduce the number of people that might just walk in and purchase a watch on the same day but they'll save more than they could potentially make.
It's like a scammer asking you to make a reservation to be scammed.
No gears. Less space than an iPod. Lame.
I've got a CRISP $1000 I have no use for!
...they sell you an Apple watch.
Artificial scarcity. Loss aversion. Marketing: The art of making people feel like they're losing something that they don't even have yet. This offer may never be repeated. Only valid while supplies last. Order now and get a free dildo with your Apple watch.
And still people are deathly afraid of deflation. The consumer electronics market has for decades been delivering better products to those who wait, but people still fall over themselves and jump through hoops to GET. SHIT. NOW.
2 weeks used to be acceptable to receive a hand-written letter delivered by carriage or boat.
Then 2 days was unacceptable being delivered by faster transportation, so the telegram came along, reducing that time to mere minutes.
These days, even waiting minutes to receive an electronic message of some kind is pathetically slow.
Instant Gratification. We did this shit to ourselves because I can still pick up a pen and paper. You just refuse to wait.
Also, people don't give one shit about deflation. Why? Because even the consumers have figured out how long consumer-grade hardware usually lasts, and they don't care. They'll just throw it away and replace it whenever it breaks and chalk it up to "bad timing" or "shitty luck".
RSVP quickly for your chance at an anal violation. First come, first raped.
This makes sense for a number of reasons. First, it will keep scalpers from buying up so many devices and selling on eBay. Makes it much easier for Apple to keep track of these people. Second, it will reduce the number of impulse buys for people that don't really understand what the device can, and more importantly, can't do, thus reducing the number of returns and increasing overall customer satisfaction. Sure, it has downsides, but I think the upsides probably win out in this case.
Better known as 318230.
you will finally be able to be fit, healthy, able to keep time. It wasn't possible before Apple invented this. If you buy an Apple Watch, you will get a better life.
Exclusive is a salesperson spending an hour just with you, patiently helping you to choose just the right style. Like... Macy's, when buying a watch of comparable price! Apple can not sell jewelry for nuts, they should have partnered with stores that have experience with making customers feel exclusive.
I'm venturing a guess here - forecasted demand for the watch is low, and will not have the line-forming turnout that keeps Apple products awash in publicity.
They're making it "by appointment only" as a means of disguising this fact.
What is an "Apple Watch In"? ... and why would I want to buy a whole store?
I live about 85 miles from the closest Apple store.. Pretty much every interaction I've had when them is through an authorized reseller or via web/mail/phone. Forcing you to go to a store to pick one up is pretty much a PITA. Oh, and I don't live in the boondocks -- I'm in a city of 300,000 people, but stuck between two major markets, so Apple has passed us by.
They've finally found a product they can't get Chinese wage-slaves to crank out fast enough..
Apple is worried that there will be no lines and that this will make the news, sending their stock price down.
So, they've created a highly-publicised reservation system to prevent any such news from being relevant.
In other words, it is going to the first of many massive failures under the so-called "leadership" of Tim Cook. You are free to disagree but wait and
see, you will discover I am correct. - The Ghost of Steve Jobs
The subhead could be "Demonstration models available in store, purchases restricted to Apple website or Apple Store app."
Sensationalizing your headline is fine in mainstream media, let's please aim toward more rational headlines on venerable Slashdot.
A recursive sig
Can impart wisdom and truth
Call proc signature()
Instant Gratification. We did this shit to ourselves because I can still pick up a pen and paper. You just refuse to wait.
I can pick up a pen and paper too but I don't think anyone wants to see that kind of instant gratification.
Kids on your lawn again.. amiright?
I was able to secure a spot but the earliest I could get was mid May. Curious what days other people are getting? Who knew the resvos would go so quickly.
Apple has decreed that you are in the boondocks. :-)
You must be outside of the walled garden.
I think you may not understand what "exclusive" means. I sometimes have to reserve a Motel 6 ahead of time because they are busy, are they "exclusive" also?
The process is there because there are so many watch combos they can't realistically stock them all. Also, it's a REALLY GOOD IDEA to try something in person first before you wear it around all the time (not just in terms of looks but how it feels on your skin).
Isn't it smarter to make sure a customer gets a watch they want rather than taking a lot of returns because what they ordered was too big/small/wrong color?
I think it's laughable Apple is being ridiculed for asking people to try one out first to make sure they want one, rather than Apple pushing people to buy them sight unseen. Isn't this the exact opposite of the pure marketing drive people are always accusing Apple of?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Brilliant marketing or just an easier way to hide the fact that nobody is buying them on launch day?
You are SO SURE it's going to be a massive flop that you post AC so the prediction cannot be traced to you...
We all know what that means
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The we don't have enough stock, you have to line up a week in advance to have any change of getting one worked great for them. Artificial scarcity is the best way to increase demand. If American's even has an hint that they might not be able to have something, they just go crazy.
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
I've had reservations about the Apple watch since I first heard about it. My reservations, though, are the sort that will keep me out of the store.
All the same, I've been watching Apple and its customers long enough to know that I will be hanging on to my Apple stock. The watch doesn't have to make sense; it just has to make money.
Fools day.
Wow. I guess it is to be expected a week out from launch, but the PR machine is all over this page in a rather disturbingly effective way.
"but were concerned the experience wouldn't feel exclusive enough"
Are you fucking kidding me? You can't even wait until after the first sentence to start trolling?
Isn't this what they call a soft-launch everywhere else? Queue electronically, make sure it's not rushed and crowded? Oh yeah, fucking apple is guarding it's exclusivity. You know, that warm fuzzy feeling where you feel arrogant and superior to everyone else . . . when you shit on a product because it makes your winky feel small, oh wait, that's "an anonymous slashdot reader" submission.
Speaking from experience, for those waiting to get their hands on the 10,000 dollar gold apple watch, good luck. apple makes this NEARLY impossible...heres all the crap ive had to put up with so far.
1. No helicopter landing at ANY apple store. I would have to park at an airport and find a limousine. who even does this anymore?
2. Usually the apple website is helpful for this, but with the appointment system and the weird locations of the apple store, It means i have to get off my yacht and actually enter the store. I didnt onboard a months supply of lox and champagne just to walk away from it. There are no ports of call on my island for the apple store
Good people go to bed earlier.
out of a trunk at a drive-in, or just inside a dark alley.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Fuck you, I'll buy a Pebble Time Steel instead. Phew - close call there.
May not feel "exclusive" enough? Really? If you validate your life via your possessions or "status", you're in trouble already. Apple have taken something as trivial as a timepiece and elevated it beyond what it really is or was ever meant to be.
I'm sure we'll all be reading about the muggings that take place because someone didn't want to get an appointment for their exclusive watch. Apple make crap and charge extra. Full stop.
Look, consumer electronics these days are for everyone (they're not like the Casio calculator watch from back in the day), so they need to look sexy and even a little bit "exclusive". Apple hasn't been "exclusive" for years now, and I suspect they want to take the idea back a little: being fashion-forward AND having something that not everyone else has yet.
Except...I've had a smart-watch for months. People notice and ask questions, but I've observed that the questions I get aren't from people who WANT one of their own, even the iPhone users (people still have phones that are glued to them anyway), they're just wondering why I have it in the first place. So Apple is probably limiting supply to increase perception of demand.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
this is just a good way of dealing with a shortage of a product availability (since there's such a proliferation of combinations) and minimizing returns of a high wear prone item. It's not supposed to make it seem like you are visiting your personal jeweler at tiffanies.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
obligatory
Do you? I know plenty of people who use Apple products, but none of them want an Apple watch. I still prefer the old school stand alone (offline) Casio Data Bank 150/300 watch! :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
This sounds like a great way to troll apple:
Call them and make a reservation.
Go to your appointment.
Try it on, ask a bunch of questions, wasting as much time as you can. Bonus points for ridiculous questions that don't give the gambit away.
When it comes to the crunch time and you can't waste any more of their time, you say "No thanks, it's a piece of crap and way too expensive".
Rinse, repeat.
I have this theory that rich people like having to waitlist for luxury items. This is not so much for the items themselves (although they to provide a nice status symbol), but to experience what it is not to be rich and having to actually lust, expect and wait for something. If you want, to experience a kind of elusive desire for something they don't have. Most of the common goods they can have immediately, this makes this common goods, irrespective of actual price, worthless to some degree.
We relatively poor people experience that all the time even for somewhat mundane items like a telephone or a car. How lucky we are. Truly poor people experience that for essential goods like food, and that sucks.
In other word, it is not possession per se that create happiness, it is the desire, expectation and sense of achievement that corresponds to this possession that matters. If one is into possessing things of course.