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Apple Retail SVP Ahrendts tackles Apple Watch/MacBook launch questions in 5-minute employee video

Screen Shot 2015-04-21 at 4.42.50 PM

The video accompanying the memo Ahrendts sent to staff last week has been published by Mac4Ever. Apple retail boss Angela Ahrendts clarified some of the details of the Apple Watch and MacBook rollouts that are starting this week. The executive confirmed that for the time being, watch orders will only be available online due to extremely limited supply.

Regarding the new products, Ahrendts says customer feedback is “overwhelmingly positive” and says the call to limit orders to online-only for the time being was “not an easy decision.” She also confirms that the first pre-order units will begin being delivered this Friday for customers who had 24-hour shipping times on their purchase.

The restrictions are explained as being the result of launching “two amazing new products at the same time,” though Ahrendts is careful to note that these limitations will not last forever. “We love our iconic blockbuster launches that we in do the stores,” she assures workers, “And have absolutely no fear: you will see those. This is just a unique situation.”

On the MacBook front, the video highlights the fact that the new laptop features only a single USB-C port, which changes the process for transferring data from an old Mac to a new one. She urges employees to review training materials on the new procedure to prepare for customers needing help.

Ahrendts says that she will continue to send out video messages each week to employees to keep them updated on the situation for both the Apple Watch and the MacBook launches. You can watch the full video below.

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Comments

  1. Jeremy Horwitz - 9 years ago

    Anyone who has demonized Ahrendts as being responsible for the Apple Watch sales issues may feel differently after seeing this video.

    • Stetson - 9 years ago

      Yeah, I’m not sure how people blame retail for a supply shortage.

      • ptidman - 9 years ago

        I blame retail for failing to set realistic expectations, and for, in general, a generally poor buying experience.

        I stayed up until 3 am to order my watch, but the one I wanted wasn’t available until June, so I settled for my second choice, which I won’t get until the end of May. Trying to set up an appointment for the next day took multiple attempts, and after making the half hour drive the store did not have the model I bought available to try on (I could only look at that one under the glass). I could not see how the sport watch would look with the nicer bands, and I was told that the sport watch would come with 2 complete bands–after my salesperson checked with his supervisor for an answer. Apple has only changed the store listing in the last few days from 2 bands to 1–with no acknowledgement or apology for the error. Finally, the new Macbook was not available that day in the store, despite Apple’s announcement that it would be.

        I’m a huge Apple fan, and I’m still excited about getting my watch. But this was just a lousy buying experience. I can’t fathom how anyone could think she is doing a good job. All I hear are excuses and spin that no one is buying. If the response of Apple’s customers was overwhelmingly positive, you’d be hearing from them. Instead, you are hearing Angela instruct her beleaguered sales force how to spin this thing. She’s on full damage control.

    • Paul Rubin - 9 years ago

      Operations is obviously a target. And who knows how delayed this stuff was from the design and engineering stages. Retail? Doesn’t seem to be a realistic target.

    • Milorad Ivović - 9 years ago

      She isn’t responsible for the supply issues, but as someone credited with the online strategy shift, she is responsible for not communicating more clearly that there would be no devices in store on the 24th. The date was prominently emblazoned on retail posters which presumably she is ultimately in charge of.

      It’s too late now. Non-tech-news reading customers should have been told all this prior to the preorder window on the 10th.

      Holding her entirely blameless is transparent sexism. Part of putting women in powerful positions is holding them accountable for stuff under their purview. Communication of the retail strategy especially on store signage, is her purview.

      • Milorad Ivović - 9 years ago

        last time I raised this same point some asshat accused me of misogyny, hence that last paragraph there… It’s amazing how legitimate criticism is attacked by people who think they’re doing the right thing. Put away the hero complex. She’s a big girl making tens of millions of dollars. She doesn’t need defending especially when the criticism is reasonable.

      • kevicosuave - 9 years ago

        “The date was prominently emblazoned on retail posters which presumably she is ultimately in charge of.”

        No it wasn’t. The advertising said things like “coming April 24”. It never said they would have stock available in stores to purchase on April 24.

        Personally, I think she handled things near flawlessly.

      • Milorad Ivović - 9 years ago

        Seriously, WTF does coming April 24 mean in a retail store, if not that it’s coming to a retail store on April 24?

        And this dude says “No it wasn’t…” followed immediately by an example of how it really was.

      • Milorad Ivović - 9 years ago

        OH FORGIVE ME, apple’s pithy marketing ALWAYS says “this heretofore mentioned item will be stocked in retail stores on [LaunchDate]” and anything less than that level of specificity means they never said it would be.

        And this isn’t considered repulsive apologism by you people?

  2. Almog (@Almogos) - 9 years ago

    Its so cool she actually send those videos

    • Clyde Anderson - 9 years ago

      Would have been cooler had she sent them on April 3rd to let the employees know what’s going on in advance.

  3. Ben Powell - 9 years ago

    “It’s a really personal product” – that’s why we’ve used the most personal service as our primary host – the internet! Everything about this launch has been a joke. Come try it on, two weeks early. OK.. relatively organised. I learnt I need a 42mm. Wait you actually want one? Well, come over to my computer here and oh, sorry – they’ve sold out already. You’ll have to wait until June I’m afraid chap. All our TV commercials/print advertisements used the 24th date? Ah yeah.. That must have been a small typo! Talk about indecision, Sickening backtrack and SUCH an Ill considered way of doing things, especially from Apple.

    • limitedcool - 9 years ago

      Hey Ben, nobody has a gun to your head to go buy one! I agree and wish that they had inventory, but by now you should’ve figured out how much demand is present for Apple products anytime something new releases….your not entitled to anything so just stop whining…I myself am waiting til July but resist bitching on forums

      • demeetreee - 9 years ago

        Yet you are bitchin’ about his bitchin’.
        Please, why the hate everywhere? He has a good point. Only because you seem to have more patience, you shouldn’t bash him. Exchange the “watch” in his argument with any other product and you’ll see he has a point. If you go to the market and the salesman convinces you to buy a 4 pound fish, only to check his inventory and to say that you actually have to wait for it for 8 weeks, you get pissed to..

  4. terrycurtis2015 - 9 years ago

    This lady needs to be sacked, the launch has been handled badly and all this talk of personal service for customers is just a way of distracting from the real issues. Truth is customers were not sure about which watch to purchase but in the main narrowed choice to two watches and pre ordered both. Once received they will make a decision and return 1 within 14 days for refund. Additionally the logistics of sending watches to customers direct rather than through the store has also ramped up complications in terms of despatch much easier to sent to a few locations (Apple Retail Outlets) rather than individual customers. The only possible benefit of the new process is around manufacturing i.e. judge customer response before building and if indeed this is the reason for this ham fisted approach then Apple should come clean and say so!!

  5. Steve Grenier - 9 years ago

    So far, I’d say she is a great choice for Apple Retail. Looking forward to more changes she brings to Apple Stores.

  6. Anyone else curious as to what exactly “24-hour shipping times” are!? I’m not aware of anybody that got that as a shipping time. I thought 4/28-5-8 was the earliest window given?

  7. spiralynth - 9 years ago

    That was that was that was that was inte inter intere interes interest interesting ting ting ting ting.

  8. rogifan - 9 years ago

    I wonder who is leaking all this retail stuff. I can’t imagine the top brass at Apple being to happy about it.

    • xprmntr - 9 years ago

      *too

      • Jason Nortwich - 9 years ago

        Um…actually, the OP was correct and you are wrong. it’s “to”. Instead of focusing on correcting others, perhaps you should just lighten up and not worry so much about the small stuff.

      • bpbatch - 9 years ago

        Jason—you’re kidding, right? It’s “too.”

        Or, for you…

        Jason—your kidding, write? Its “2.”

      • cma92 - 9 years ago

        I think Jason Nortwich needs a lesson on correct word usage. “too” is correct. Look up a book, a page anything to clear your ignorance of proper word use.

  9. I’m guessing morale has to be really low if she’s sending out personal videos almost apologising to her staff

    • Odys (@twittester10) - 9 years ago

      I did not interpret that as an apology. It sounded more like an encouragement to adjust to new ways of doing business. I think retail must be pretty happy of no block buster launch – it must be super exhaustive for the retail team to go through those

    • Carlos R. Batista - 9 years ago

      I think the fact that she is sending personal videos to her staff speaks volumes of her personality and empathy towards her team. Corporations need more VPs like her. But that just my un-bitter interpretation.

    • limitedcool - 9 years ago

      She’s been coming out with videos since she took over…they don’t all get leaked though

    • krikaoli - 9 years ago

      I thought the same thing.

  10. robertsm76 - 9 years ago

    I do have a big problem that today Apple announced that they have watches for developers but we that preordered have to wait? That’s not cool

    • florinnica - 9 years ago

      Sense-of-entitlement much?

      • robertsm76 - 9 years ago

        Nope. Don’t believe in doing the right thing?

      • I actually don’t mind. Im sorta annoyed that developers can be randomly selected to get a watch sooner. But the way i see it. It only means that we can expect better watch apps sooner.

    • markpetereit - 9 years ago

      It’s a good strategy. 3rd-party app performance will effect customer satisfaction. If they can get actual watches in the hands of those 3rd-party developers a few days ahead of the rest, it could mean the difference in catching and fixing last-minute bugs before they effect the general user population.

  11. mrjordan101 - 9 years ago

    But after the end of the day we all know about the MacBook most of our readers have one or more MacBooks. Get to the point will we will we not be receiving The Apple Watch on April 24 or may 8

  12. charismatron - 9 years ago

    Cool video.

    It’s difficult to discern whether this, and her last letter to staff, isn’t doing double-duty: on the one hand it’s encouraging and informing sales staff; on the other, it seems to be “made-to-leak”: Ahrendts addresses the precise concerns about how far Apple is going with this new method of product launch, and seems to be encouraging and informing them as well.

    It puts a nice face to the whole thing, but it’s hard to tell how much of this is damage control and informing customers how much is informing staff.

    In any case, Apple’s definitely treading new ground with this launch, and it’s fairly certain they’re learning from mistakes and successes alike. It’s always good to try new things. However, with millions of customers and billions of dollars on the table, it’s also a huge risk, as well.

    • charismatron - 9 years ago

      First paragraph should say “addresses precise concerns of customers about how far Apple is going . . “. Can I get an EDIT function up in here? :P

  13. Leif Paul Ashley - 9 years ago

    I wish more people and VP/exec at companies had the forward thinking to just address the users and fans with a simple message about the new products.

    My image of her changed in a click.

  14. I really like her. I think this whole video thing is a really nice way to connect to retail staff all over the world. Can’t imagine many other big executives doing this.

    I’m not going to blame her for supply issues and people saying that she needs to be fired needs to chill. Ultimately, we have no idea why there are issues, but a common theme seems to be a very high (I’ve seen up to 70%) defect rate.

  15. Steve Artis - 9 years ago

    um……….

  16. MaxBay - 9 years ago

    Good video, but I don’t trust people who use “absolutely” or “awesome”, et al, very much. Tim Cook uses “incredible” and its synonyms to the point they mean nothing. Apple products are so good, less means a lot more.

    They’re doing a good job with the introduction on the Watch. They have to run things differently because of the configurations and customer choices. She’s right.

    The bad news: I’m not getting a Watch. There’s nothing they’ve shown me that demonstrates I need it. The early adopter of this will see the 2.0 and 3.0 versions sail past them.

    Meanwhile, they sell Beats headphones for way too much, and with way too much bass. Gives me the impression Apple doesn’t care much for music fidelity. They’re just in it for the money, now.

    • Apple, like every other profit seeking business ever, has ALWAYS been in it just for the money so I don’t know why you have included “now” in your paragraph.

  17. tenormasta - 9 years ago

    Wha-wha-wha-was-was-was-the-the-the-poin-poin-point-of-of-of-of-thi-thi-thi-this-vide-vide-video?
    Somebody needs help recording the Line-In Mic next time. ;)

    • 89p13 - 9 years ago

      I thought I was the only person who was experiencing the vast “echo” problem.

      My only criticism – she needs to learn to use a teleprompter better.

      As far as the launch – it’s something new for Apple and my experience has been very positive with it. Do I wish I could walk into my local Apple store Friday and pick up the 42mm Space Black watch – YES! But what I fear I would run into, if that were a possibility, would be an extremely long line of people who would be buying to resell on eGhey – and then it would be the whole iPhone 6 fiasco all over again! Remember that situation? It was only about 7 months ago.

      So, like many of us, I will be waiting until June / July to get my 42mm Space Black Apple watch – but I can live with it. I appreciate the fact that Apple did have the 2 week preview period, so that I could actually see / try on the watch as opposed to having to either (a) order both the 38 mm and 42 mm and then return one or (b) order the wrong one and then have to wait even longer.

      Apple is trying to meet the needs – give them a chance!

      YMMV

  18. skiking226 - 9 years ago

    Yea I have a confirmation email with a time of 12:03 am 4-10-15, it’s Wednesday and mine still says “Processing” I won’t get my watch Friday yet people that ordered after me will