The Apple Watch store appointment experience


I was curious to check out the try-on experience at the Apple Store both because I wanted to get a look at the new Apple Watch, but also how this system worked.

The store had a large table with a glass covered inset with all varieties of Apple Watches on display. This table was the front and center table everyone will see as they walk into the store. There was also little iPad kiosks on Apple Watch tables. These kiosks had a demo on the iPad and a functional watch secured in a holder. You could learn about the watch from the iPad and give the watch a spin, although this is limited to the screen and controls. To actually try the watch on, you needed a guided tour.

I was an early appointment on Friday, so the staff was still getting their footing in how to run these demos. It was a little awkward and the guy doing the demo seemed nervous. I don't think it had anything to do with me because really all I wanted to do was hold it to get a sense of the product. I'm going to guess there was quite a bit of training/drilling on how to handle this. He did get corrected a few times by another store worker lurking a few feet away. The corrections weren't about details of the watch or answers to my questions, but on protocols of how to handle the merch. I joked around with him just to not make me feel so awkward. Already feeling kind of bad for him, I didn't torture the young man further by asking for fashion advice.

The watches are stored under the table in a pull out drawer. This drawer is locked electronically and opened wirelessly with the staff's iPhone sales device. While a slick idea, the implementation seem clunky. The drawers are hidden, which means there are no visual clues as to where to place the device to trigger the unlock. All the sales people I saw seemed to have to hunt a little to find just the right spot. Also, the locks don't appear to be as nearly as responsive as everyone wants. Once opened, an assortment of watches are held in place with felt holders.

It seems the protocol is for the sales person to pull the watch out and either hand it to the customer or place it on a cloth/mat. One of the discreet scolding appeared when I directly handled one of the watches in the drawer, which I guess is a no-no. Another issue with the setup is the watches don't appear to be organized. My sales person and another were hunting around for specific models in different draws. Apparently also keeping two drawers open is another no-no and that was met with another disapproval from the lurker in an Apple t-shirt. Finally, after i smudged up each watch with my fingers, the sales person carefully cleaned them with a cloth and placed them back in a holder.

In the end I got my questions answers satisfactorily and got some hands on time with the watch. I feel like I walked out more positive about the hardware design than my impressions from the photos/videos. I look forward to getting mine whenever it gets here.