|
G3/266, Hold the Modem (8/5/98)
|
 
|
| | |
Finally, several months later than originally expected, Apple has taken the wraps off of their new build-to-order Apple Store for resellers. This new extension to the Apple Store allows national, regional, and local resellers to order custom-built systems for their customers, instead of only being able to provide the standard pre-built configurations that Apple provides. Details and feel-good marketing shmooze are available in Apple's press release on the subject.
We can actually hear several of you who are saying "So what? People who want to buy Macs have been able to custom-build one at the Apple Store since last November." Ah, but Grasshopper, perhaps you are not schooled in the arcane ways of the business world. Several companies only allow their employees to buy equipment from specific approved vendors, so the Apple Store often isn't an option for them, and so they were stuck buying Macs that weren't exactly what they wanted, because the closest preconfigured system had a modem they didn't need, or not quite enough RAM. The reseller BTO capability changes all that. And likewise, there are also "normal" consumers who would rather do business with their preferred and trusted local reseller than with Apple directly, and now those folks also have the freedom to buy exactly what they want, no more and no less.
As expected, the BTO Apple Store for resellers currently only allows vendors the ability to custom-build Power Mac G3's and servers. PowerBooks are still limited to the six pre-built configurations. (Or five, since the 292/14" model can't be had for love or ready money.) However, we hear that Apple plans to add PowerBooks and other "additional products" to the system in the future.
| |
| |
 |
SceneLink (910)
|  |
 |
|
And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
| | | |
|
| |
|
 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/5/98 episode: August 5, 1998: Resellers need not stare longingly at the build-to-order capabilities of the consumer Apple Store any longer, now that Apple has given them an Apple Store of their very own. Meanwhile, the Mystery of the Poorly-Packaged PowerBooks winds to a semi-satisfying close, and rumors of custom-colored iMacs surface once again, only this time with a schoolyard flavor...
Other scenes from that episode: 911: Packaged Different (8/5/98) When we recently brought up the disturbing trend of PowerBook G3's arriving at dealers and customer homes just rattling around loose inside their big cardboard boxes, we drew a comparison to the inexplicable phenomenon of giant stocking ladders sitting in the middle of the Apple sections in CompUSA stores all across the country, blocking access to the display computers and/or software... 912: The Colors, The Colors... (8/5/98) As few will dispute, the iMac is the most stylish computer ever to come out of Silicon Valley, with the possible exception of the old jet-black NeXT cube. And it's pretty much a lock that the iMac is the most stylish computer that a consumer could ever afford...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
|
|
