Tag: Apple Watch

Customers can now buy the Apple Watch without an appointment

| August 24, 2015

Customers can now head to the retail stores and try on the devices without booking it, first.

Consumers who are interested in checking out the Apple Watch in retail stores without having to make an appointment are finally able to do so now that the appointments requirement has been lifted.

This makes it possible for shoppers to simply walk in to an Apple Store without booking an appointment in advance.

The tech giant wants customers to now be able to simply walk into the stores at their next convenience and give the Apple Watch a try, without having to go through the additional effort and scheduling involved in making an appointment and keeping it. This smartwatch first started selling in retail stores in the United States in April. However, since that time, the company had required shoppers to schedule a time in which they could come by one of the stores in order to try out the product and potentially purchase one. However, the appointments are now becoming an optional part of the experience in order to further streamline it and add convenience to the opportunity to shop for this product.

The appointments for the Apple Watch had previously required shoppers to use an Apple ID and choose a time.

Apple Watch - Purchase without appoinmentThat said, the Apple store is breaking away from that necessity. While it is still possible for shoppers to schedule those appointments if that is how they wish to shop for the device, the company has now confirmed that the policy has changed and these appointments are no longer compulsory.

Some shoppers have previously reported that, depending on the Apple Store location, there wasn’t necessarily a strict enforcement of the appointment making process for the smartwatches, this change in policy certainly indicates that Apple is seeking to make it easier for shoppers to be able to check out its wearable technology in person and then actually buy what they like.

So far, the response from fans of the brand has been a positive one on social media and in online comments, as removing the appointments for the Apple Watch makes the shopping process a much less complicated and fussy one, and makes it possible for people to simply try out the product and potentially buy it at the time that is best suited to their lives and schedules, even if that includes dropping by the shop on a whim.

Apple Watch sales may not be as hot as they’d seemed

| August 5, 2015

Reports are showing that the sales for the smartwatch aren’t reaching break-even volume for a supplier.

Media reports are circulating wildly stating that an Apple Watch supplier has not even managed to reach the sales figure required in order to break even, which is stated to have been 2 million units per month.

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. is indicating that the smartwatches aren’t selling.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Taiwanese supplier that is responsible for assembling all of the sensors and chips of the Apple Watch into its tiny case (called the system in package, or SiP). A subsidiary of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) has told investors that their break even volume is 2 million monthly units, and they have not even been able to reach that level. This, according to a Bernstein research analyst named Mark Li. The subsidiary said that it did not once reach that volume during the second quarter of this year. Moreover, it is not expecting to do so in the third quarter of the year.

This is not promising for the Apple Watch as it is traditionally the third quarter that production becomes busy.

Apple Watch Sales Not as Good As ExpectedThe reason is that producers are typically gearing up for the holiday shopping season when sales will usually spike significantly. However, if this supplier doesn’t expect to hit break-even figures during the months that prepare for the holiday shopping season, then it suggests that the expectations for the sales of the smartwatches are not all that promising. The subsidiary did not say that it expected to reach break-even volumes for the last quarter of the year, but apparently no commitments have been made to suggest that it will, as of yet.

Within a note that was written by Mark Li to Bernstein clients, he found the shortfall in sales of the wearable technology device to be disappointing. He also stated that he’s already had low expectations for the smartwatch, but that even he was very surprised at the fact that it didn’t even manage to reach break-even levels.

This Apple Watch news becomes even more insightful when understanding that companies such as ASE nearly never fail to reach break-even volume, particularly during their third quarter.