Limited availability of the Apple Watch is now expected to continue into June, according to a new report from The Telegraph. The articles quotes an internal memo from Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts in which she notes that lack of in-store availability of the Apple Watch is expected to “continue through the month of May” and directs Apple retail store staff to advise customers to order their watches online in order to receive “the model they want earlier and faster.”
Many of you have been getting questions asking if we will have the watch available in store on April 24 for walk-in purchases.
As we announced last week, due to high global interest combined with our initial supply, we are only taking orders online right now. I’ll have more updates as we get closer to in-store availability, but we expect this to continue through the month of May.
It has not been an easy decision, and I want to share with you the thinking behind it.
Ahrendts goes on to explain her reasoning, mostly in marketing language, describing the Apple Watch as an “entirely new category” and putting a positive spin on Apple’s new approach to “deliver the kind of service our customers have come to expect,” and that the Watch as an “object of self-expression” complicates Apple’s ability to deliver stock in stores with the number of band and design options available, as opposed to taking online orders. Notably, Ahrendts suggests that the current situation is an exception, and that Apple does not plan to launch all future products in this manner.
