Brick and mortar retailers Target and Best Buy have apparently not been given enough inventory to fulfill all pre-orders, and are emailing customers informing them that Apple Watch Series 2 orders won't be shipped by the promised date.
Pre-orders at both retailers started alongside Apple's process on Sept. 9, with early buyers being told that shipments would arrive on launch day.
Late Thursday, Best Buy emailed customers saying they would start shipping Apple Watch orders on Sept. 28. Target started sending emails on Friday morning, informing people of stock issues of the Apple Watch, and have not given any indication when shipments might go out.
Best Buy has also informed some customers that Apple Watch Series 1 pre-orders won't be fulfilled until mid-October.
AppleInsider spoke with seven Target stores, only two of them having floor stock of the Series 2 — one with a single unit, the other two. Of the eight Best Buy stores we polled, only one had stock, and even then it was only one unit.
All of the stores we asked had "a few" iPhone 7 models in rose gold, and no other stock whatsoever for retail purchase above and beyond pre-orders.
Both Target and Best Buy are offering Apple Watch Series 2 customers a $50 in-store credit for the inconvenience.
21 Comments
Yeah, sucks for other retail this year. Reminds of the first year(s) when other retailers were starting to join launches. Last year's iPhone 6s launch was probably the smoothest and most mature launch yet...this one sets some new lows. Not in terms of sales, in terms of quality of experience.
When the 6s Plus was coming out I did a "preorder" at Target. They called me in FEBRUARY to tell me my phone had arrived. That's FIVE months after the silly thing was released. Don't order from Target. Just don't.
I think Apple are producing just as many as the 6S at launch but because they're launching sooner to more countries the stock is spread out.
So the iPhone 7 is in big demand. Most of us can accept that, and even the delayed delivery. What I find not so nice is that Apple made sure that many (if not most) people at carriers & retailers will not get their phones today since they took that stock for themselves because their IUP participants screamed and cried. Keep in mind many of those same IUP people DID get the phone they wanted. It's just those who didn't screamed loudly. I don't like the way Apple handled it. They didn't give any guaranty with that program that people would get exactly the phone they want and on launch day.
Apple is pretty much taking a crap on everyone else by doing this, but hey, I guess they can. So many of us who would have gotten a phone today won't for that very reason.
The lesson I guess is buy directly from Apple in the future.