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Apple begins training retail employees about the Apple Watch

apple-watch-6_1

Apple today began training its retail store employees in multiple countries, including the U.S. and the U.K, about the upcoming Apple Watch. The training is said to not divulge many new details, but the beginning of the training program does represent Apple’s first move on the retail employee level in preparing for the Watch. We reported last week that Apple is preparing to use traditional jewelry store tactics for the gold version of the Apple Watch. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the wearable will launch by April. Apple will begin flying out select employees for more hands-on training over the next couple of weeks.

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Comments

  1. acslater017 - 9 years ago

    Good luck, specialists! I predict retail will be more important for this product than any previous Apple product.

  2. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    Good news. They’ll need to handle this perfectly or else a lot of folks will be turned off. It can’t be a frustrating experience if it’s going to click with consumers.

  3. luckydcxx - 9 years ago

    Cant wait to get my hands on one!

  4. unitedappleconvo - 9 years ago

    Oh man here we go!!!

  5. Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

    I think the Apple Watch will be an excellent product, but I think their retail experience for it will be flawed, scattered, and unprepared. It just seems like a train wreck so far to me. I don’t think they are ready to launch despite everything they say.

    • Dick Applebaum - 9 years ago

      Most sales of Apple Watch will be done at other than the Apple Online Store or Apple Stores, Target, BestBuy, etc. — this is a fashion item — that’s the reason they hired Angela, et al.

      Like most here, I can’t define fashion …

      But, while I can’t define fashion– I know it when I see it (like porn).

    • incredibilistic - 9 years ago

      Okay, I’ll bite. What exactly has happened this far with the Apple Watch that qualifies as a “train wreck”?

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      A train wreck based on what?

    • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

      Re: “Train Wreck” … perhaps that’s a loaded term, but it’s just a personal opinion (like all the comments here and on every other site by everyone), based on things that I would expect to see happen before a launch that haven’t happened yet.

      It’s pretty obvious that none of you agree and that pretty much every comment I make on any 9to5 article is angrily disagreed with or ridiculed, so let’s just save all the typing and leave it at that.

      I’ve said that I think they aren’t prepared. We shall see who’s right or wrong in a couple of months.

      • rogifan - 9 years ago

        If you’re going to throw out a loaded phrase like train wreck you should be prepared to back it up. Except of course there’s nothing to back it up with. Just because we have’t seen things doesn’t mean they don’t exist. There’s lots of things Apple may be doing that we don’t know about. Not everything leaks to Mark Gurman. ;-)

      • The problem is that you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. And I don’t say that to be mean, you just simply don’t.

        Ignoring the fact that they still have two months to prepare and are notoriously secretive about these things, you have ZERO information about what’s going on in their offices behind closed doors…other than the fact that they’ve hired a number of fashion, retail, and watch experts.

        They probably have some idea of what they’re doing. You just don’t have any evidence otherwise, so why not give them the slightest benefit of the doubt?

      • Atlas (@Metascover) - 9 years ago

        You just made clear that you are basing yourself on nothing.

  6. Dan (@danmdan) - 9 years ago

    With their big open entrances in many stores, it will interesting to see how they aim to prevent a customer “doing a runner” while wearing an expensive Apple Watch ! Any ideas, anyone ?

    • Gazoo Bee - 9 years ago

      Indeed. One of the most basic, traditional parts of buying a watch also, is trying it on to see how it fits on your wrist (although Apple seems so far to be ignoring that part of the traditional watch buying experience).

      If someone is going to drop $500-$1000 on a watch, the experience of buying it might be better at a small upscale retailer than at an Apple store.

      On the other hand, supply will probably be constrained relative to demand, so if you want one within the first few months of their availability, you will probably have to buy one online and just hope it fits when it arrives.

      • rogifan - 9 years ago

        “although Apple seems so far to be ignoring that part of the traditional watch buying experience”

        Um….the Watch isn’t for sale yet so how can Apple be ignoring that part?

      • acslater017 - 9 years ago

        Maybe they could make an extension of the Genius Bar/One to One appointment system. But instead of tech support, you set aside 15-30 minutes with a dedicated Specialist to help you try on the watches and make a decision.

    • tallmannyc - 9 years ago

      I’m guessing that getting your hands on the Edition version of the watch isn’t going to be so simple. The other versions are probably cheaper than a 6+ to make and not appreciably harder for someone to run off with. I assume Apple will handle it the way they always do, let the guy go, hand over HD video tape of the crime (from multiple angles) to the police, go back to selling billions of dollars worth of stuff.

    • acslater017 - 9 years ago

      It’s not much different than pulling a $700 iPhone off the stand or a $300 pair of beats off the shelf.

      It’s always been a mix of honor system, cameras, loss prevention officers, and social pressure (eg a Specialist saying “I see you’re looking at the Beats! Well I’ll be right here if you need me”)

  7. charismatron - 9 years ago

    The selling of the Apple Watch presents some unique challenges for Apple Stores–on and off line. No doubt, they’ve committed tremendous resources to streamlining the experience for satisfying both buyer and seller. We’ll see what solutions they’ve come up with for making the sale not only super-convenient, but also very exciting.

    What I find to be most interesting is this product will be somewhat of a departure from “traditional” Apple sales (i.e. you don’t need to try on an iPad) and will mark a totally new direction for how we perceive Apple: a seller of luxury fashion products.

    Of course, it’s all tech and all Apple, but Cook and co. aren’t just changing their stores to accommodate a new product, but they’re altering our perception of the brand. How will Apple present itself as a fashion icon and the watch as a must-have item? How will staff be trained they sell me a frikkin’ watch? That’s going to be something really interesting to see unfold.

    I’m looking forward to the spectacle of the release event, and checking out how the stores are going to change, and how staff will be charming customers with sexy new tech. For Apple fans, it doesn’t get much better than this.

    • rogifan - 9 years ago

      I suspect that’s what Angela Aherendts and Paul Deneve were hired for.

  8. xfilmz - 9 years ago

    I think the Apple Watch will be a great success, and the second version an even greater one.

    Apple will most definitely lead the way for the new era of wearable technology.

    I want one right now! Time, please pass by quickly!

    • Martin Richards - 9 years ago

      And this is why I am waiting for 2nd release, Remember all the bugs in the first products well this is not going to be any different really. What gets me is if you buy the gold watch and they do a major upgrade on the 2nd release you be really peeved unless Apple come up with a really good trade in offer on gold watches. If they don’t re design then I suppose you could just change the hardware at lease leaving you with your gold surround and strap but hey only time will tell.

      • tallmannyc - 9 years ago

        I bought the first iPod and the first iPad. I don’t recall any “bugs” in either device. Both are still working today (though I’ve replaced the iPod’s battery and the iPad has been handed down to my nephew).

  9. jaredporter2014 - 9 years ago

    Among others in Apple’s customers’ base who will be especially good candidates for Apple watch will be millions of new iPhone 6+ owners. The 6+ is a great, very portable “mini-mini” computer in your pocket, purse, or holster, but is often not that convenient to pull out just to check the time or an alert, due to its slightly larger size. In this case, the AppleWatch will be a most-convenient companion.

    I feel another good sub-set of likely consumers are younger love-birds who will each buy one in order to keep more closely in touch during every hour of every day by exchanging heartbeat pulses, silly little drawings, or “coded” cryptic subtle “love taps”, in which the iPhone doesn’t ring nor vibrate. This is a brand new form of ubiquitous “communications” akin to snapchat.

    And a future neat use of Apple Watch will be to magically open security doors, household front doors, stadium turnstiles, or simply ApplePay when the shopper doesn’t choose to pull out her phone.

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      Yeah the use cases are endless really. I see the watch OS allowing developers to use the accelerometer/gyroscope in the future versions to allow users to make simple gestures to create actions, for example raising your arm slightly when standing at your car’s trunk will pop it open. I also see Apple getting the security down before allowing the watch to be a personal key to anything around the wearer in proximity, I’ve said it before on here, it will be like an invisible aura of security around the wearer, when you approach your front door it will unlock/open etc etc, list of uses is endless. The main thing into the future will be highly accurate biometric sensors. Apple won’t add them until they are highly accurate, and the battery can support it though.

  10. tallmannyc - 9 years ago

    Doesn’t this seem like early training for an April launch? I guess so much information about the watch is out at this point that secrecy is unimportant.

  11. Bernhard Prawer - 9 years ago

    Does the training also mean, that the Apple Watch will be also released to those countries in April which take part at the training program for the Apple Watch? I don;t know if Germany belongs also to the country who takes part at this training. I wait for the Apple Watch very much, and hope that the USA is not the only country which release the Apple Watch first.