How well does Apple serve your local market?

[Chinney]

This follows up on a comment I made in another thread, where I noted that Apple does not serve the international market as well as the U.S. market. This is true in a number of ways – slow release/no release of iTMS in other countries; slow release of iPod mini in other countries; fewer products (especially third-party) available on Apple Store online; no or few physical Apple stores; no/limited sales through re-sellers.

All these things are issues here in Ottawa. We don’t have an Apple store. We do have a bMac store, but it is way out in the ‘burbs and I have found that many products – even basic software – have to be ‘ordered’, rather than being available when you go in. No other local computer re-sellers sell Apple products around here (although this is apparently not an issue in some other parts of Canada – I was in Vancouver on business last week and saw prominent Apple displays in both computer stores I visited). The Apple Canada online store has fewer third-party software offerings, etc.

I guess that some of this might be an issue even in parts of the U.S. – away from the big cities. So I ask the general question to everyone - international and U.S: How well does Apple serve your local market?

(Mods: I put this in General Discussion, as the thread is not limited to Apple products per se, but is about Apple marketing, including third-party products for Macs. Feel free to move if I goofed.)

[kretara]

Apple has almost no presence in Arkansas with the exception of CompUSA (not that they know anything at all about Macs).
Apple also seems to ignore the customers that they have here.
I work for a very large .edu. My "campus" has a ~ 100 Macs for staff (and many hundreds of Dells/Gateways). If we have an issue with a Mac, Apple is slow to respond, if they do at all and definately do not treat us like we are important to them. OTOH, if there is an issue with a Dell we have our own Dell rep who will bend over backwards to help us out.
Example: one of my coworkers was given a 12" PB. Almost immediately issues began to appear that rendered the PB unusable (all were quality control issues). Apple has had the PB for a total of 7 weeks out of the 10 weeks we have owned the PB. They refused to send us a new replacement PB.
Something similar happened with a Dell laptop about a year ago. What did Dell do, they sent us a new laptop -- no questions asked.

Yeah, I feel that "my" market is very underserved and poorly served.

It seems that Apple only concentrates on the huge cities and almost ignores anything else. I lived in Boston for 8 years and there was a decent Apple presence.

[windowsblowsass]

well locally there is a place over town that sells macs but they always act like ur gonna steal their shit even though i maybe the onl person who ever goes inthere for anything ever

[SKMDC]

Next time you're in there, buy (or steal) a new keyboard to fix your "broken" one that you say causes all your typos.

[scratt]

In the UK (where I used to be) we were pretty poorly served from Apple themselves but there have always been loads of really good third party suppliers.

My biggest complaint is that we never used to get any of the deals, or even understand what the purchase vouchers were for in boxes when you bought a new Mac!! As someone who almost always adopts the newest things from Apple I feel a little agrieved I have never even had a free mouse mat! :no:

Also Macs have traditionally been priced at a 1$ = 1£ rate which currently mean we would be paying twice as much for the same computer as you were in the States!!

In Thailand (where I am now) there are no Apple stores but several third party stores in a place called Pantip Plaza [aka Heaven] (where copied cd's of every piece of software on the planet are available from little market stalls!! - You have to be careful as twice I have seen people selling VPC7 and Longhorn :lol: ).

- Not that I ever use pirate software... but it is fun to see what stuff is about.. and the toys at Pantip are just endless!! It is like a massive computer bizarre... you can buy just about anything for a computer... down to the little rubber feet that keep falling off my 17"G4!!

I am desperate to get an Airtunes but we just don't get stuff until it's been out for a while over here... And import tax on computer stuff is about 75% so ordering from the states is not possible... I don't quite understand how you can actually buy the stuff at close to the US price in stores here with the official import duty on electronics in Thailand.. But I presume that's what the government / mafia realtionship is for over here!! ;)

Well that's my 2 cents worth!
scratt

[SKMDC]

Also Macs have traditionally been priced at a 1$ = 1£ rate which currently mean we would be paying twice as much for the same computer as you were in the States!!


Well that's my 2 cents worth!
scratt

so if a 20Gb iPod is $299 it would be £299? that comes to 535 american at todays exchange rate.

MAIRD!

2¢ worth is almost a nickel!

[scratt]

so if a 20Gb iPod is $299 it would be £299? that comes to 535 american at todays exchange rate.

MAIRD!

2¢ worth is almost a nickel!

It's not quite as bad now...but....not far off!

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ukstore.woa/90901/wo/ac7dOgYEoniv2s8ezLT1vCpabvW/0.0.9.1.0.6.21.1.3.1.0.0.0.1.0
£299 for 40GB iPod = $600 (approx)

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/71606/wo/rI2zPRNEz2ig2W35Myz1NPwI7GN/0.0.9.1.0.6.21.1.3.1.0.0.0.1.0
$399 for 40GB iPod = $399 (exact)

I have been using Mac for many many years and was drawing on over 20 years of experience....

Way back when I bought my Newton I had it shipped from the US and paid 17.5% import duty plus Fed-ex costs and drove to London from Leicester to pick it up and still saved money on the Uk price.

(Also cos I wanted it NOW NOW NOW!!!)

But it still saved me money.

scratt

[Gargoyle]

£219 to be exact!

Painful for us UK'ers :(

[Chinney]

I can’t see how customers in the U.K. put up with that! At least in Canada – despite other problems that I mentioned above – the price is comparable: the cost of Apple products is more or less the same as the U.S. price, adjusted for the exchange rate. For example, today’s price for a 12-inch iBook on Apple’s online U.S. store is $1099 in U.S dollars. On the Canadian online Apple store it is $1499 in Canadian dollars. At today’s exchange rate (0.758 $US = 1.00 $CAN) that works out almost exactly even. It is sometimes more, sometimes less – depending how the exchange rate fluctuates and how quickly Apple changes its prices, but generally it works out pretty close.

Actually my experience – from quite a few visits – is that almost everything in the U.K is bloody expensive (and salaries are not that much higher so as to compensate). I love visiting over there, but my pocketbook becomes much lighter, very quickly.

[BarracksSi]

I shouldn't post in this thread, because it just doesn't seem fair -- there are two Apple stores in my area, with a third due to open sometime soon (if it hasn't already!).

[SKMDC]

i have 4 within 10 miles of me.

[Chinney]

I shouldn't post in this thread, because it just doesn't seem fair -- there are two Apple stores in my area, with a third due to open sometime soon (if it hasn't already!).

That’s alright. Post away. We want to hear the good experiences as well as the bad.

I am also curious about the situation in Australia. We have a fair number of Australian members online here, but I can’t recall the overall Apple purchasing situation in Oz being discussed-at least not recently.

[usurp]

in kuwait its terrible.

2 or 3 dealers only. a lot of different prices. plus the prices are too expensive. service not friendly. customer support terrible. workshop people know less then i do.

i dont think it could be any worst..

[Koodari]

Finland's the same as most other places in Europe, I think. Even after VAT, Apple charges a huge premium compared to US prices. There is no physical Apple Store (I doubt that would be any good to me actually). The webstore prices seem about the same than the cheapest resellers. I have preferred the brick-and-mortar stores because I feel I can trust a thing with "presence", but would have used Apple store if there was a significantly better price. The service at the stores is good and friendly. When I bought an iBook for my mom, the salesman installed extra memory on their demo machine to let me gauge how much that affects the speed. I fiddled with the demo machine for hours (my first Apple purchase), ended up not buying the extra. The guy still gave me a good deal on the computer and accessories. I haven't probed their technical knowledge, but I wouldn't expect much.

Advertising almost nonexistent outside finnish Mac magazines - and I'd think those magazines' readership is already Apple inclined and needs no more advertising. I can understand keeping a low profile in a market that they don't have resources for, but I don't understand the pricing. Only they know the real numbers, but I think it's probably shortsighted of them to tack on the "Europe tax". Macs are expensive to begin with, we have a GDP much, much lower than the US, and the additional profit per unit must cost them a lot of sales. Now that Apple is looking good financially, shouldn't they be concerned about growing marketshare and long term survival rather than just the ongoing quarter?

I'm happy I haven't had to deal with repair/maintenance yet. I don't expect much from that. A friend has had slow and expensive repair. AFAIK machines are sometimes shipped abroad for repair.

[psmith2.0]

It's not so good here in my town. We have a Best Buy and Circuit City (iPod stuff only), so if I want something from Apple (besides an iPod), I have to order it OR make a 90 minute trip south to one one of the two Atlanta Apple stores (or a CompUSA in the northern Atlanta suburbs).

:(

I'd give anything for just a simple CompUSA here in town, because then they'd have that little Apple section in that back and that would keep me happy.

We do have two authorized Apple service/repair places in town, one enjoying a bigger, friendlier reputation than the other. In fact, I've been to him on two occasions and he knows his stuff. But the place he works, while quite Apple-centric, in its employees, decor, etc. doesn't sell anything. Merely repairs (warranty and otherwise) and large installation/networking services.

:\

A CompUSA would do well here, I think.

[Ryan]

I have an Apple Store about 20 minutes away, and a CompUSA maybe 15. There's also a small Mac specialty store inbetween that I've seen from the highway, but never gone in.

[DMBand0026]

I've got 3 Apple Stores and a handful of CompUSAs and now a Fry's around here somewhere. I'd say Apple gets this market very well overall. Some good iPod ads, but really little else. The Michigan Avenue store is amazing, if you're ever in Chicago (and everyone who comes to Chicago should really be on Michigan avenue at least once during their visit), head over there, it's an experience.

[psmith2.0]

Haha...I just put together you're in Chicago. So I'm guessing you're all up on the Dave Matthews tour bus situation, huh?

:lol:

YUCKKK!!!!!

[Quagmire]

I also have 3 apple stores.Which is great if one store is soldout the other store(which is bigger) will sure to have it. If the that store desn't have it. I go to the third. Then I am stuck ordering it online. I do not trust my local Compusa. I do not know why I just don't. So apple treats me perfectly. When I ordered my BTO 12" pbook 1 Ghz it shipped the next business day. All the accessories shipped well in the shipment range.

[SKMDC]

I've got 3 Apple Stores and a handful of CompUSAs and now a Fry's around here somewhere. I'd say Apple gets this market very well overall. Some good iPod ads, but really little else. The Michigan Avenue store is amazing, if you're ever in Chicago (and everyone who comes to Chicago should really be on Michigan avenue at least once during their visit), head over there, it's an experience.

you have 4 apple stores.
and after visiting the apple store you should walk a mile south on michigan avenue to MILLENIUM PARK (http://homepage.mac.com/djjord/PhotoAlbum40.html) the coolest place in chicago.

[staph]

The only "official" Apple stores in Australia are the online store, and little store-lets inside David Jones' department stores (a relatively spiffy store, about as much as Australia gets).

So retail is almost wholly third-party. In the rest of Australia, there's a relatively healthy ecosystem — the major cities have at least half a dozen stores each, generally more (so long as you don't count Hobart as a major city).

In Canberra, we have just one — AppleCentre Mac 1. Canberra is a small place, and so I'll refrain from comment. Barto used to work there, I believe — he should have a pretty good insider perspective on these things.

As to how Apple rates Australia in terms of actually getting us new products — we seem to rank behind Europe, and new products take an incredibly long time to make it out here. The pricing isn't too bad — generally at the exchange rate, plus 10%, plus a bit, which makes sense given that we have a 10% GST.

[Chinney]

Do no other big chains sell Apple computers in the U.S.A other than CompUSA?

That being said, the situation is worse in this area of Canada, where I have never seen an Apple computer in a general computer store (the equivalent of CompUSA) or Office Depot or anywhere else, other than the few and far between specialized Apple re-sellers (with one small, pathetic, exception of an old Mac on a table and a couple of Apple mice in a display case in a downtown photography store that advertises itself as an authorized re-seller).

As I said, however, I was very impressed with Vancouver last week, after seeing significant Apple displays in two computer stores within a couple of blocks of each other. One was in a big downtown drugstore – drugstores in B.C. seem almost like mini-department stores, with large electronics sections. The other was in a store whose name I can’t remember, but I guess it was a local computer chain. The impressive thing about both displays was that, while there was also lots of PC stuff in both stores, the Apple displays were given the best spots: a separate stand that was pretty much the first thing you saw from the escalator in one store – and the entire main outside ‘by-the-window’ section in the other. It was also impressive that the displays were backed up with a fair-bit of in-stock merchandise (not just the “I can order that for you” sort of displays). Now that degree of prominence in stores is the sort of things that companies pay their sales representatives to push – and it is very hard to get. Kudos to the Apple rep. in Vancouver. I hope that it pays off for the company in local sales.

Further, I think that Apple reps across the country should be doing the same thing: getting their products in prominent places in any reputable store they can. The time is now. Time to capitilize on the good vibe from the iPod. Time to capitilize on the fairly good vibe from the G5. Time to capitilize on the nose up that Apple currently has in the OS 'wars' with OS X. The point is...Apple needs to have more than just these good vibes - it needs its products in more stores where people see them on a day-to-day basis.

[MacFan]

They seem to do well with their Apple Stores here in the Phx area but seem to hold inventory back from their resellers as they are slow to get stuff in the store whereas Apple always has plenty in stock.

[Chinney]

More news on the Apple purchasing/support situation here in Ottawa. I just read online that the bMac store has closed down in the last few weeks. So we really have no big store in Ottawa devoted to Apple products. I also visited the photographic store downtown that used to advertise itself as a reseller. All that remained of its already pathetic display of Apple products was a few pamphlets on the PowerMac and the iPod and a poster of OS X: i.e no products at all.

On the good news side, however, I just learned that there appears to be a small boutique semi-near downtown that is devoted to Apple. I’ll have to check it out. Also, I am unreliably informed some of the big electronics stores in the ‘burbs now carry Apple, although I am not sure if they actually display, stock and provide information on the merchandise. They may just be the “well…we can place an order for you” sort of Apple resellers.

Overall, still pretty pathetic. What Apple needs to increase its visibility is a flagship downtown store in the Ottawa area and also prominent resellers that devote space and sales energy to the products. Apple has regained a lot of consumer interest – especially with the iPod, and with the G5 too. They should capitalize on this.

[BenRoethig]

This follows up on a comment I made in another thread, where I noted that Apple does not serve the international market as well as the U.S. market. This is true in a number of ways – slow release/no release of iTMS in other countries; slow release of iPod mini in other countries; fewer products (especially third-party) available on Apple Store online; no or few physical Apple stores; no/limited sales through re-sellers.

All these things are issues here in Ottawa. We don’t have an Apple store. We do have a bMac store, but it is way out in the ‘burbs and I have found that many products – even basic software – have to be ‘ordered’, rather than being available when you go in. No other local computer re-sellers sell Apple products around here (although this is apparently not an issue in some other parts of Canada – I was in Vancouver on business last week and saw prominent Apple displays in both computer stores I visited). The Apple Canada online store has fewer third-party software offerings, etc.

I guess that some of this might be an issue even in parts of the U.S. – away from the big cities. So I ask the general question to everyone - international and U.S: How well does Apple serve your local market?

(Mods: I put this in General Discussion, as the thread is not limited to Apple products per se, but is about Apple marketing, including third-party products for Macs. Feel free to move if I goofed.)

How do they serve my local market? They don't. It's an hour drive just to see a local tech.