Apple Japan is looking to expand its direct sales team, increasing staff for the division to 50-60 employees, up from 20, according to an article at the Nikkei Business Daily. The division will focus on sales to universities and small to midsize content firms. The increased attention to direct sales has already helped the company land a contract with the Tokyo University for over a thousand computers. From the Nikkei Business Daily:
Apple Japan Inc is bolstering its direct sales structure in order to expand sales of personal computers and servers.
The subsidiary of US firm Apple Computer Inc plans to immediately increase staff in its direct sales division to 50-60 workers from 20. It is also aggressively hiring contract sales agents.
The direct sales staff will focus primarily on universities and other institutions of higher education, as well as small and midsize digital content firms, market segments that distributors have not been able to adequately cover due to swelling sales costs.
You can read the full article at the Nikkei Business Timesi Web site.