Watching and Waiting…

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Apple Gadgets

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a little bit about the fact that I had ordered an Apple Watch. Ever since I placed that order, I’ve done a few things. I’ve backed a couple of Kickstarter projects, I’ve been accepted as a beta tester for a smart home gadget, I’ve continued to enjoy being a husband and father, and I’ve been devouring all the Apple Watch info I can possibly get my hands on.

Apple is fantastic at creating a buzz around it’s products. Especially brand new product categories like the Watch. We’ve seen it before with the iPhone, iPad and Macbook Air. There’s never enough supply to meet the demand. Apple is experienced enough in product launches to know that anything they release will be instantly popular and at the very least, those who worship at the Church of Jobs will purchase at least one of whatever has been released. At most, it will reach the mainstream who will pile on too. They know what the demand is likely to be. They know how many units they’ll sell in the first weekend. So why is there such a backlog of orders?

I reckon there are two main reasons. The first is simple marketing. Apple know that if they make it especially hard to get hold of a product, it’ll create buzz. There will be thousands of tech articles, blog posts, news reports – all talking about the Watch. YouTube videos, podcasts, magazine articles are all featuring the lucky few who’ve managed to get their hands on one. If everyone is talking about the Watch, more people will want one, and those who’ve ordered and are still waiting for a dispatch date are, like me, are pouring over every little detail offered up by those who’ve already got one. The second reason, I believe, is that they’re using the early adopters as testers. There are just some problems you won’t discover until you put them into the hands (or on the wrists) of the general public. So the first bunch of people who got the watch will find a bunch of issues and Apple will issue an update. It’s a nice little scheme they’ve got. Have your punters pay £300 or WAY more for a device and then use them as unsuspecting testers. It’s not as cheeky as Google’s Glass Explorer programme though. They got you to pay £1000 for a Glass and then ditched the programme completely!

My day starts off very simply. I get up (or woken up at 5.15am, if my 3-year-old daughter has anything to do with it!) and have a look at my email, Facebook and Twitter. Then I open my Apple Store app and look at my outstanding orders, tap the Apple Watch order and yep, still June. No other delivery date. I know they’ll email me when they’ve got a dispatch date. There’s no real reason for me to check. I don’t know why I do. It’s probably just an anticipation thing. At various points throughout the day, I have a look at the usual tech news sites to see what’s new on the Apple Watch scene. At this stage, there isn’t very much new information, but I seek it out anyway. There’s always SOMETHING to read. It’s probably something I already know, but it’s been written by someone new.

Are you an expectant Watch owner? Do you do the same as me? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to know how you’re coping with the wait.

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