Apple has taken another major step towards extending the availability of the Apple Watch to its stores by sending a new video message to its retail employees. 9TO5Mac has reported that, in this private video, two of the Cupertino company’s leading employees with responsibility over the retail arm, Angela Ahrendts and Jim Bean, informed the staff about training materials and called upon them to be “above and beyond ready” for “a launch unlike any we’ve ever had before”.
A “faster, smarter, and better” launch…
Those particular words came from Ahrendts, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores, who warned staff that “this is where the rubber hits the road”. Later in the video, in which it was also revealed that the staff are again being sent training materials in preparation for the Apple Watch’s retail launch, she said that Apple must ensure that it provides “the best customer experience” and a launch that is “faster, smarter, and better than [Apple has] ever done before.”
… but also a “tougher” launch
It doesn’t look likely to be an easy task, as Bean, the company’s Vice President of Retail Operations, cautioned that the variety of Apple Watch models will make this launch “different” to and “tougher” than previous product launches. He explained that, in order to help Apple to give each of their customers at launch the exact Apple Watch model that they want, the company will use a new online feature called “Reserve and Pickup”.
This feature will enable each customer to, from 8am each day, check the Apple Online Store to see if the specific Apple Watch model that they want is in stock at their nearest Apple Store. If it is, the customer can then reserve that particular model and arrange to pick it up from the store at a specific time. Bean also revealed that each customer will have the option of reserving an Apple Watch version that is not yet in stock.
Could news of yet more changes be on the way?
Given that, as Apple Magazine reported in May, Tim Cook has told Apple workers in China that the Apple Watch will become available in many Apple Stores around the globe “from June”, without specifying a more precise date, Apple must be at a very late stage in its preparations for the wearable’s retail launch.
Even at this point, however, Ahrendts has used the video to tell the retail staff that “this is what you were born to do, this is why you are at Apple” – while, as phrased by 9TO5Mac’s Senior Editor Mark Gurman, “hoping to encourage them to re-review the Apple Watch training materials”. This suggests that there could yet be even more changes in the launch procedure for us to tell you about as the big day comes closer.
