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The Big Axe Falls (5/22/98)
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Remember way back in February when Apple shook up our quiet, mundane little world by announcing that it was pulling Macs out of all national retail stores except for CompUSA? It was a bold move for Apple to sacrifice shelf space in an already tight retail market, but they had determined that the old, non-functional Macs on display in uncaring stores like Sears and Computer City were hurting sales and public opinion more than they were helping. Well, guess what? Apple's swinging the axe again, and this time the targets are dealers, value-added resellers, and authorized service providers who are failing to live up to Apple's standards. A MacWEEK article discusses the carnage.
Apparently almost a third of the 3600 Apple-authorized dealers, retailers, and VARs have just been notified that as of June 26th, they'll be authorized no more. And more than half of the 8000 authorized service centers have also been let go. Given the way that Apple's market share has shrunk over the last several years, these moves are a logical cost-cutting strategy, but more importantly, Apple is weeding out those partners that aren't helping preserve and grow the Mac platform. The list of resellers to cut was based on a "detailed survey" which looked at such factors as advocacy, knowledge of Apple products, and revenue history and potential for growth in the reseller's area. As for the service providers, well, we're guessing that some of these places got certified in the mid-eighties and haven't seriously dealt with Macs in years. ("PowerPC? Izzat some kind of new-fangled Pentium thingy?")
It's a scary move, but then again, it's not nearly as scary as cutting all national retail stores except CompUSA-- and that decision appears to have been a good one, after all. Let's hope Apple knows what it's doing, again. Their track record's been pretty amazingly good of late.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 5/22/98 episode: May 22, 1998: Whack! Down comes Apple's axe, lopping off a third of its resellers and half of its service centers. Meanwhile, Umax reveals that they've lost a ton of money in their whole Mac clone endeavor, and Microsoft gets to ship Windows 98 as planned, but their trial date is close enough to make them sweat...
Other scenes from that episode: 728: Further Clone Aftermath (5/22/98) Man oh man oh man, looks like nobody had any luck with the whole Mac cloning debacle. Power Computing cranked out great boxes that sold like hotcakes, but they weren't making any money, even before Apple put the hurt on them... 729: Showdown in September (5/22/98) Well, Microsoft didn't get its requested seven months in which to prepare to argue its side in the current Department of Justice antitrust case, but they did manage to squeeze three and a half months from Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson; the trial date is set for September 8th, instead of sometime in December as Microsoft requested...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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