iPhone 7: quiet Apple Watch launch doesn't mean 'blockbuster' launches are over, Apple says

Launched of future iPhones and iPads are still likely to be the huge events that they have been in the past, rather than the relatively muted and largely online launch of the Apple Watch.

Apple’s huge launch days — which often see people queuing outside stores for days before they high-five staff on their way into the shop — have become a huge part of the sale process for new products. But for the Watch, the company opted for a quieter process, having people order online and offering pre-orders rather than have people waiting for orders to open.
But the company’s retail head Angela Ahrendts said that the Apple Watch model will not catch on for all products, as some had feared. In a leaked video meant to be shown to Apple staff, she said that “we all love those blockbuster Apple product launch days — and there will be many more to come”.

Since Ahrendts had said that the “days of waiting in line” were over, in a memo referring to the new Macbook as well as the Apple Watch, some had worried that Apple would begin to do all of its orders online rather than in store.
But instead the change could be related to what seems to be limited stock of the Apple Watch. Ahrendts said in in a previous memo that interest was higher than the limited supply, and Apple might not have had enough Watches to fulfil orders if they were done in person. Online, some of the Watches are now not able to be delivered for months.