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Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

bloomberg.com

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Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#461

Post by 111111IIIIIII »

crooked-v wrote: post #412
gizajob wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah absolutely. Every time I’ve been in my local Apple Store, I’ve basically been talked out of purchasing, or it becomes a huge hassle of upselling and extra worrying charges, and quite frankly, stupidity and lack of knowledge from the pseudo-smart staff. All they can do is toe the party line and what they’ve been trained to say and do, which kind of falls apart when faced with someone who has used Apple computers…

I've never had the kind of experience you're talking about at an Apple Store, so I'm very confused about those anecdotes.

Same. If I'm in a rush I just preorder. Apple has the easiest purchasing experience I know of.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#462

Post by BenFranklin100 »

hghid wrote: post #197

Slightly tangential rant, but is anybody else becoming frustrated with the process of buying Apple products in Apple stores? For me, it started with the Apple Watch - I knew which one I wanted and was ready just to head down and buy one, but I was forced to sit through an entire "fitting" with patronising explanation on how to use the knob on the the side. Recently, I wanted to buy a new Phone. Again, I knew the one…

This has not been my experience at all. I walk in (or make an appt beforehand for the sake of convenience), tell the what I want, plop down my credit card, and I am out of there in 20 minutes tops. Super smooth, professional experience.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#463

Post by dorkwood »

f6v wrote: post #228
hghid wrote: post #197

Slightly tangential rant, but is anybody else becoming frustrated with the process of buying Apple products in Apple stores? For me, it started with the Apple Watch - I knew which one I wanted and was ready just to head down and buy one, but I was forced to sit through an entire "fitting" with patronising explanation on how to use the knob on the the side. Recently, I wanted to buy a new Phone. Again, I knew the one…

I think 99% of customers do need an explanation on how to use the watch.

I’ll be honest, I’m one of the people that needs instructions for Apple products. I’ve been buying them online — each time becoming frustrated with the lack of instructions and the assumed knowledge necessary to use them.

Oh, you didn’t know that there’s actually two different places to swipe down at the top of the phone? Everyone knows about that, you idiot!

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#464

Post by gizajob »

dcchambers wrote: post #449
gizajob wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah absolutely. Every time I’ve been in my local Apple Store, I’ve basically been talked out of purchasing, or it becomes a huge hassle of upselling and extra worrying charges, and quite frankly, stupidity and lack of knowledge from the pseudo-smart staff. All they can do is toe the party line and what they’ve been trained to say and do, which kind of falls apart when faced with someone who has used Apple computers…

> Apples pricing structure is also annoying nowadays too. As soon as one specs out and bumps a laptop, one suddenly finds that they may as well get a different laptop, ie once you bump up a MacBook Air, you may as well just buy a Pro, until all of a sudden your £999 purchase idea has turned into £3000 and a debate about AppleCare. Their pricing structure on basically all of their product lines is absolutely perfect f…

Well, it's not exactly perfect because I was in the mood to simply buy a basic Air, until I was pretty well talked out of it by sales staff, so instead of an easy £1099 in the till, in their attempt to turn that into £2500, they got £0. That isn't good business.

Also, the tedium of nowadays knowing that all the products will be bumped in spec in 9-12 months means that instead of excitement, buyer's remorse has already kicked in before reaching the store, for the savvy consumer midway though the product cycle. Again, not the result effective capitalism should be going for.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#465

Post by pests »

Turing_Machine wrote: post #244
justapassenger wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think people who pack Apple stores are target audience. From my experience they’re either not a target audience (older, non tech savvy) or lack funds (teenagers).

Can we please get rid of the stereotype that older people aren't "tech savvy"? Older people today have been using computers since they were in their teens or twenties. Conversely, I know a 20-something woman who can't understand why her iMessages quit working when she switched to an Android phone, despite explaining it to her multiple times. As you note, they also have more money.

I always hated that stereotype too. Those older people were the ones to design our current processors, operating systems, and the internet and web itself. The people who sent man to the moon would be nearing 80-100 years old already.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#466

Post by dcormier »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #462
hghid wrote: post #197

Slightly tangential rant, but is anybody else becoming frustrated with the process of buying Apple products in Apple stores? For me, it started with the Apple Watch - I knew which one I wanted and was ready just to head down and buy one, but I was forced to sit through an entire "fitting" with patronising explanation on how to use the knob on the the side. Recently, I wanted to buy a new Phone. Again, I knew the one…

This has not been my experience at all. I walk in (or make an appt beforehand for the sake of convenience), tell the what I want, plop down my credit card, and I am out of there in 20 minutes tops. Super smooth, professional experience.

Twenty minutes sounds like a long time to walk in, get something you already know you want, pay, and walk out.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#467

Post by NBJack »

Gigachad wrote: post #427
XorNot wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get how insane this sounds as an experience though? I'm physically in the store, saying "just let me pay for your product so I can leave" and the default is to try and drag that interaction out? The existence of workarounds doesn't make it not stupid.

Not really. Apple is catering to the majority of consumers who don't arrive at the store with their exact purchase ready to go. They want to be guided and shown all the options. And if you are in the small % who don't want this. Either go to one of the other retail stores selling the product, or order it online for pickup or delivery.

It doesn't make sense economically, and it is likely a side effect of a metric used on employee performance. Quick sale -> less time in store -> more time to help those that (actually!) need it. If you truly can't be bothered to take the money for an unambiguous transaction, Something Is Broken.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#468

Post by p1esk »

isykt wrote: post #263
nostromo wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they shouldn't assume that. I just had this exact experience because my phone was irrevocably ruined, so I needed to pick a replacement up the same day. The Apple Store was a very poor experience with a sales agent I knew more than trying, repeatedly, to explain to me things like backup, Apple Care, etc., etc. I also for some reason had to talk to four different people, and the only one that could actually help m…

What happened when you told them, “I’m all set without a demo, please just ring me up ?” Did they refuse?

Yes. The last time I was there to buy an iphone they said: “Someone will help you in 30 minutes, let me put your name in the queue. Oh, and you have to go stand and wait in the corner. No, you cannot leave the store to get coffee, if you do you will lose your place in the queue.”

I counted 14 workers and maybe 3x as many customers in the store, with at least 5 workers just standing around doing nothing.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#469

Post by Jedd »

threeseed wrote: post #453
nomel wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone that has tried the Vision Pro has said the eye and hand tracking is flawless. Context of the interaction is important. I've seen this mentioned with selecting, but not with doing something like picking up a 3d object. I don't recall seeing this use in any of the release footage.

There are plenty of WWDC videos around with specific details on Hand Tracking e.g. https://youtu.be/zNFpAQb9hAg?t=908

That's an impressive set of alleged joint-tracking at https://youtu.be/zNFpAQb9hAg?t=985

26 joints per hand. Assuming that all the joints in your hand are visible to the device (this seems to be unlikely for much of the time).

As per parent's line of questioning, it doesn't address how that maps to a manipulation in the virtual realm in practice.

In comparison, each controller on my Valve Index has 87 sensors - that can distinguish touch vs actual press (triggers etc), pressure, presence vs absence (fingers on the handle), as well as the usual orientation / accelerometer sensors. Even with an abundance of processing power, a camera-tracking system can't get there.

Re: Apple plans a slow, appointment-only rollout of Vision Pro

#470

Post by NBJack »

dcormier wrote: post #466
BenFranklin100 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has not been my experience at all. I walk in (or make an appt beforehand for the sake of convenience), tell the what I want, plop down my credit card, and I am out of there in 20 minutes tops. Super smooth, professional experience.

Twenty minutes sounds like a long time to walk in, get something you already know you want, pay, and walk out.

Oof. Have to agree here. I admit I get impatient at times when it takes me more than 5 minutes to walk out of a Best Buy with an online order.
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