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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

#421

Post by giantrobot »

scarface_74 wrote: post #212
giantrobot wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

RIM and Palm sold 15-20 million units this year. If Apple is only projecting selling a million iPhones they're going to have a hard time catching up to Palm and RIM's install base.

Yes because Apple has always chased after market share….

That's not what I was saying. Palm and RIM assumed their unit sales were an unassailable moat. Both almost completely ignored the consumer phone market then dominated by feature phones. Apple didn't jump after raw market share but an underserved market.

I'm not saying the Vision Pro will follow the same path as the iPhone. Past sales of the competition shouldn't be used as a signal of how good compelling of a product it will be. Meta's sales reflect the demand of a product from Meta. Apple has a lot more experience and success at building a platform for third parties. Meta can improve the Oculus platform but it's an open question whether they will.

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

#422

Post by newZWhoDis »

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 worked Apple Retail many many moons ago. The senior manager once told me (manager -> senior manager -> store leader)

“Your job is not to sell products, we could put all this inventory out there on a pallet with a credit card swiper and sell all of them. Your job is to sell attachments, primarily Apple Care”.

Seriously, sales volume was a footnote. You are entirely judged on your attach rate for whatever it is corporate/your market is pushing, they start you part time and the only way up is to attach attach attach. No one wants to “just sell you a phone” because they know you’ll never get Apple Care and for every one of you they need to sell 4 other people on AC to get their numbers back up.

Another fun note: At the time Apple Store revenue $/sq ft beat out jewelry stores.

Great gig as a high school kid, made decent cash and a bunch of people used their tuition assistance. A large number of their employees though are what I call “retail lifers”, 25-30 year olds who are way in debt from a degree that didn’t work out or washed out of the corporate world and landed back in retail. They really don’t like younger employees who are actually going somewhere/realize it’s a temporary gig for kids and not a real career. Lots of alcoholism and drug abuse in that group.

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

#423

Post by jojobas »

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…

They don't want a customer, they want a cult member.

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

#424

Post by newZWhoDis »

kreitje wrote: post #281
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…

A few years back I bought a MBP online with the pickup option. I picked it up, declined their assistance setting it up and went about my day. I get home later that day, start to set it up and it’s locked to employees of a bank in Canada. Live support is no help so I take it back, only to find out the serial number did not match that on the box. They had their security guard quietly come stand near me until they figur…

FWIW, scammers at Apple usually buy Apple Care/all the attachments.

They know the employee is judged on that and is incentivized to make the transaction glide through.

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

#425

Post by hnbear »

mft_ wrote: post #320
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…

They seem to inject additional people into their processes, for reasons I can't discern but I'm sure exist. For example, even buying something as simple as an Airtag means waiting for a random employee to be free, who then gets one for you, only to then wait for another different employee to be free to allow you to pay for it. Maybe that's just about theft prevention? My one "Genius Bar" experience (recently) in Muni…

Most non computer purchases like AirTags can be self serve. You grab a box off the shelf, scan it with the app, Apple Pay and walk out. No person necessary. Works on everything without a unique serial.

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

#426

Post by gizajob »

amelius wrote: post #409
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…

Is this a new sales tactic, playing hard to get?

I think part of my comment was broadly about their softly-softly approach to hard selling not actually working at all when someone simply walks in and says "I'd like to buy this right now"

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

#427

Post by Gigachad »

XorNot wrote: post #420
somsak2 wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's what in store pick up means -- you still get the phone right away.

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.

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

#428

Post by gwill »

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 here. i was able to skip a fitting for an apple watch when i told them i already measured. also with buying iphones outright i've never been hassled or up-sold. i've been going to my apple store in a medium sized american city for the past 10 years.

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

#429

Post by sowbug »

sleepybrett wrote: post #319
bee_rider wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suck at optics, and optics is a hard topic, so I say it will full humility: I’m always surprised that headset manufacturer can’t correct for most of these vision issues in software.

i don't think that is at all possible.

I think you'd need to be able to control the direction of each photon coming out of the screen, so that it landed in the intended place on the retina after going through the misshapen cornea/lens. That's basically what a corrective lens does. Doing it dynamically for each thing we call a pixel indeed sounds like science fiction.

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

#430

Post by ewchris »

amelius wrote: post #409
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…

Is this a new sales tactic, playing hard to get?

Back in 2009, buying a MBP, the salesman questioned why a CS student would want a mac over a pc. Luckily for him I wasn't considering his thoughts. I definitely didn't need that powerful of a computer and glad I switched to an air a few years later.
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