Please Support - Ride for the child

You’re probably bored of Apple watch reviews but this post isn’t really about that. It’s more about my thoughts on Apple and their watch.

Today the Apple watch went to market and I woke up to a feed full of Watch news, screenshots of purchases and a positive vibe surrounding the watch. This took me by surprise as the past few weeks I’ve heard lots of people slagging both Apple and the watch off in general. I guess this always happens, but they’ve proven time and time again that they dominate the technology market.
It reminds me of Manchester United how they had a stinker last season, much to the joy of all non-united fans. Many fans detest united because they are so successful, they loved to see their decline.
Apple are yet to have a decline as severe as united, but I really admire the way that they’re willing to take risks. I sometimes wonder if the Apple watch – or any other product -completely failed how much trouble would this leave the company in and how would it affect their future innovation.

Anyway I wanted to write about how Apple have gone about launching this watch…

Pre-order was available this morning (10th April) ahead of Apple’s April 24th launch date and less than 6 hours after availability started in the US they had “sold out”, prompting them to increase shipping estimates to 4-6 weeks.

Running out of stock seems to be ridiculous when there’s money to be made, but Apple are cheeky enough to get away with it every single time. Imagine opening a shop and running out of stock, you would think it would be a disaster (my mother always told me it’s better to have too much than not enough).
This selling technique means that Apple are making their product more desirable, the fact it’s rare and sought after means that its demand increases. Also the amount of “free” marketing they’re obtaining whilst people are waiting for their products is immense. The whole concept of this marketing seems completely illogical but they’ve absolutely nailed it, I’ve never seen anyone market a product like Apple.

I read this comprehensive review of the watch yesterday (which is well worth a read) and I must admit that it made me a little bit worried for the Apple and their watch. I felt that the software wasn’t ready and the faults contradicted the traditional values that Apple practice.
Apple are making millions each week on other products so there’s absolutely no need to rush anything (or so I think). It made me think if things would have been different had Jobs still been alive. I remember reading in his autobiography that he delayed a product launch because he wasn’t happy with something.

And finally, after watching this video, I think that – along with the design – the crystal sapphire in the watch face warrants the £300 that you pay. I’ve always had a Breitling watch which is made of the same material, and after years of abuse, and several watches later, I have never, ever, scratched one. It’s one of the toughest transparent materials on the planet next to diamonds.

So it’s going to be interesting to see how Apple fares in the watch market. I initially thought that this was going to be Apple’s worst ever selling product but given the sales figures on the first day I’m not so sure.

Thanks for reading!