So who wants an Apple Watch?
Apr 21, 2015, 5:49 pm
#212
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: K+K
Programs: *G
Posts: 4,867
if you sell 50 million phones per quarter -- besides having a strong product per se -- your "core marketing strategy" probably isnt 'lets stir up fake shortages'
fwiw, yes, i have favored brands. i was early adopter of products - many from apple and many from competing vendors; none experienced shortages so i actually not sure what youre just sayin...
Apr 21, 2015, 6:17 pm
#213
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 545
Plus when we look at the "luxury goods" space, which Apple is keep on entering with this particular product, engineered scarcity is virtually the entire game.
Point is this is exceedingly common tactic in this territory. Hardly the stuff of conspiracy. One has to bend over backward to come to that kind of conclusion.
Apple wants everyone to want one of these - but this watch is a fairly standardised mass manufactured product aiming to steal market share from low volume products - of course they are going to make it seem a bit like you "cant".
Apr 21, 2015, 8:12 pm
#214
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Programs: DL GM, AA Gold, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Plat
Posts: 12,171
Apple is nothing if not greedy. If they could have stuffed the channel with 50 million watches, they would have.
No doubt they would have always delayed the announcement of the product to the actual launch (to build up hype), but waiting weeks/months to fulfill orders doesn't benefit anyone except ebay.
No doubt they would have always delayed the announcement of the product to the actual launch (to build up hype), but waiting weeks/months to fulfill orders doesn't benefit anyone except ebay.
Apr 22, 2015, 10:22 am
#215
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 1999
Location: Seat 1A, Juice pretty much everywhere, Mucci des Coins Exotiques
Posts: 34,339
OK, now they are just screwing with us. http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/22/tech...ery/index.html
Apr 24, 2015, 11:17 am
#216
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
I still haven't been charged for my Apple Watch. What's really annoying is that some people with June shipping estimates got theirs today. I can't help but feel like I stayed up, putting an order in at 12:04:10 AM (according to the confirmation email) only for it to make little to no difference. Apple could have done this launch a whole lot better IMO.
Apr 24, 2015, 1:15 pm
#218
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,507
Apr 24, 2015, 3:27 pm
#219
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SEA or BGR, Lower Earth Orbit
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 17,217
A former co-worker of mine just snap chatted a photo of him wearing one that arrived today. I won't say when he ordered it, but it wasn't when the pre-orders opened.
Apr 24, 2015, 10:51 pm
#222
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SEA or BGR, Lower Earth Orbit
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 17,217
I think it is being depressed because there's some apprehension on if the seller already has it. I saw a bunch of UPS screenshots and stock Apple pictures, no actual watches. I'd be pretty skeptical about buying one with just that. I was half expecting to see the basic sport models in the $1500 range.
Apr 24, 2015, 11:35 pm
#223
Join Date: Mar 2014
Programs: AS
Posts: 194
An iPhone is typically something people want right away. Although the watch is appealing to Apple fans like me, I will wait a little bit until the hype dies down to purchase one.
Apr 25, 2015, 12:10 pm
#224
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond 1.7MM, Starlux Insighter, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,947
There's definite potential here, but in its current state the third party apps are seriously half baked. To be expected given that some never even tried their app on real hardware before publishing it - but things crash all over the place, load times are slow, and the functionality hasn't really been thought through very much yet.
On the other hand, the Apple first party experiences aren't too bad - particularly Apple Pay, text messaging and the basic watch functionality all work very well. I'm sure the third party stuff will get refined with time.
I'm currently wearing an Android Wear watch and an Apple Watch at the same time to compare. It's weird - honestly, the Moto 360 hardware design is much more impressive and Google's software is more elegant at presenting notifications and contextual data. But the Apple watch is a more full featured experience - it's more ambitious in the amount of interaction they expect the user to have on their wrist than Google is. In a way, it feels like each has swapped traditional strengths: it'll be interesting to see how both products evolve over the next year.
Until then, they're both fun to play with as an early adopter, but I wouldn't say you're missing out on much if you wait for the second generation while developers like me refine their experiences...
Apr 25, 2015, 12:14 pm
#225
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: DL Diamond 1.7MM, Starlux Insighter, Bonvoy Titanium, Hilton Gold, Hertz PC
Posts: 3,947
FWIW, I think http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/9/612...id-wear-pebble is a pretty accurate representation of my feelings about the two watch platforms, if you're interested.