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Apple Retail Stores: Macintosh Sales Centers And More
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The Apple Stores have an addressable market of hundreds of millions. They’re clean, hip, trendy, friendly places to be. You can’t say that about most any electronics store these days. So while the Business Insider article isn’t exactly groundbreaking in its analysis, it’s right about the advantage of Apple’s huge retail presence. And here they all said the Apple Store concept was DOA…
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It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but Apple’s retail stores also give Apple a huge advantage in selling all tablets, but WiFi tablets in particular. Many of Apple’s competitors will need to rely upon carriers for the distribution of their tablets. Carriers will have no interest in carrying WiFi only tablets. This distribution conundrum will force competitors to both limit their products to those that work with 3G and those that require a carrier 3G commitment. That is a severe handicap when competing with Apple’s lower priced and more flexible (not to mention better) tablet options.
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danthemason
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It’s not comparable to Apple’s distribution, but VZ showed the way with the wifi iPad and mifi hotspot before the iPhone launch. Virgin has an unlimited data plan, no contract, that is just begging for a tablet partner. One competitor will jump on that.
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It’s not comparable to Apple’s distribution, but VZ showed the way with the wifi iPad and mifi hotspot before the iPhone launch. Virgin has an unlimited data plan, no contract, that is just begging for a tablet partner. One competitor will jump on that.
It’s a good point. A hotspot could alleviate many of the issues I mentioned in my post. Still, it requires an extra step, a little more expertise. And every extra step required makes it that much less likely for the average consumer.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
It’s not comparable to Apple’s distribution, but VZ showed the way with the wifi iPad and mifi hotspot before the iPhone launch. Virgin has an unlimited data plan, no contract, that is just begging for a tablet partner. One competitor will jump on that.
Dan:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t VZ essentially offer the WiFI iPad at 3G iPad prices with the wireless gear? In other words, there was a premium paid.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
It’s been mentioned elsewhere, but Apple’s retail stores also give Apple a huge advantage in selling all tablets, but WiFi tablets in particular. Many of Apple’s competitors will need to rely upon carriers for the distribution of their tablets. Carriers will have no interest in carrying WiFi only tablets. This distribution conundrum will force competitors to both limit their products to those that work with 3G and those that require a carrier 3G commitment. That is a severe handicap when competing with Apple’s lower priced and more flexible (not to mention better) tablet options.
That’s a very interesting point about the value of the Apple retail stores and the WiFi ipad. Service providers have to add a revenue source in and above the retail margin to make the sales model work. The other factor is Apple owns the distribution fee on all post-purchase revenue activity from app and content sales. other hardware makers don’t have the benefit of that revenue stream to build into their price models.
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danthemason
- [ Ignore ]
The iPad story here seems too good to be true. Every which way we look for a grey cloud it vanishes with one of Apple’s core strengths. Probably need to bump all my forecast numbers $15.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
The iPad story here seems too good to be true. Every which way we look for a grey cloud it vanishes with one of Apple’s core strengths. Probably need to bump all my forecast numbers $15.
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One of the Palo Alto Stores to make a move
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2011/02/08/another-apple-mini-store-will-move-and-expand/
Location factors are great: neighbors with Neiman-Marcus, out of a tunnel and into a dominating corner.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
One of the Palo Alto Stores to make a move
http://www.ifoapplestore.com/db/2011/02/08/another-apple-mini-store-will-move-and-expand/
Location factors are great: neighbors with Neiman-Marcus, out of a tunnel and into a dominating corner.
Revitalizing existing stores including changes of location are an important part of the retail store strategy. Much has changed since many of these stores first opened.
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Just curious, from all this: Anybody have any data on how that uber-threat Microsoft Store is doing?
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
Just curious, from all this: Anybody have any data on how that uber-threat Microsoft Store is doing?
It’s really working well for Apple. The company is selling more and more Macs through the retail stores than ever. :wink:
Seriously, I don’t think the Microsoft stores are a factor considering the percentage of revenue generated through OEMs and enterprise plans, the retail stores aren’t going to do much for that company.
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goubulibaozi
- [ Ignore ]
Fortune published an article on how Dell recently has had fantastic growth in India.
Dell sold just 79,244 laptops and desktops in India in 2007, its first year of full-fledged Indian operations.
Dell sold over 1.1 million desktops, laptops and notebook computers in India in 2010.
“Dell also changed the way it sold computers. While buying online remained an option, the company set up exclusive outlets across the country, ? la Apple (AAPL)—the first time it has experimented with the retail model—and hired a battery of sales affiliates. Dell ensured that these affiliates, or channel partners, were given incentives to sell. The company also made virtually no investment in warehousing and delivering products right to customers’ doors upon demand. Once customers could touch and feel the product, it was easier for Dell to convince them to buy. And buy they did.”
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/10/how-dell-conquered-india/?source=yahoo_quote
Nothing said on profitability.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
source=yahoo_quote
Nothing said on profitability.
Exactly.
Commodity-grade PCs must be sold in high volume. The PC industry has entered a phase of economic decline with the greatest unit sales growth occurring in developing nations.
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DawnTreader
- [ Ignore ]
My latest missive at Eventide.
Snippet: There’s no mistaking the importance of Apple’s retail stores to the company’s continuing growth in revenue and earnings and the ongoing growth in Mac unit sales. In the September quarter retail store revenue rose 75% versus the 66.7% rise in revenue for the company as a whole. The 95% rise in retail store revenue in the December versus the 70.5% rise in overall revenue suggests there is capacity for more retail stores as the company’s global product presence continues to expand.
The Apple retail stores are key to the company’s continuing growth in revenue and earnings and there’s definite global capacity for more retail store locations.
One more time for page 4. These stats will be a factor in my quarterly estimates and full year estimate for FY2011.
