Apple is apparently concerned with the Apple Watch launch mess it created: For the first time ever, one of its products won’t even be available for purchase on the one day it should start selling in stores, one MacRumors reader found out, after personally emailing Tim Cook. And Apple is apparently looking for a fix for that on top of trying to ship your Apple Watch earlier than that annoying June estimate you may have received.
DON’T MISS: The Apple Watch’s April 24th launch date is a misleading joke
Apple is obviously battling some sort of stock shortages. After all, even if it took more than a million preorders for the Apple Watch, the device is far from being a must-have for gadget buyers to have completely sold out by now. At the same time, Apple is also experimenting an online-only order process that might not be that appealing with consumers who’re also used to being able to purchase new devices in Apple retail stores.
What’s clear is that the April 24th launch date for the device doesn’t feel like a real release date to potential buyers. Reader Andrew wrote Tim Cook a lengthy letter questioning Apple’s way of doing things with the Apple Watch (available in full here), and received an answer from an Apple executive relations person, who told him Tim Cook read the email, and the company is seriously considering making appropriate changes.
Apple apparently took notice of a specific point Andrew made. “I think it’d be silly not to believe that there will be queues lined up around the globe on launch day if the ‘online exclusive’ information regarding the (false) advertisement of a launch day isn’t spread soon and fast,” he wrote to Cook.
The company is discussing with “great concern” in-store Apple Watch stock for April 24th, as well as marketing advertising for the launch date. Furthermore, Apple isn’t done with the idea of having fans line up in front of stores to buy its hot new devices, but this new online reservation system is apparently meant to make the whole experience more enjoyable. Clearly, it isn’t really working.
Of course, regardless of what the PR rep told the disgruntled customer, it doesn’t mean Apple can simply twist things around that fast and make sure it has enough Apple Watch stock in stores available for sale on launch date. If it somehow manages to do that though, it might turn what looks like a major PR blunder into the real product release fans expected.
