Dealers Jealous Over the iPhone
07.02.07 - 04:27pm
Dealers of Apple products are not happy that they are not included in the iPhone mania craze by being excluded from selling the iPhone in their stores as reported by TWICE.
CE in particular is upset as they have built their reputations as dealers by being the first to stock and demonstrate new technology. They said they have called Apple repeatedly but have received no time frame for open distribution.
“We’re the guys that sell the 103-inch Plasma TV from Panasonic. (NYSE:MC) We were one of the first retailers to carry Sonos. We have the know-how and customer base to sell the iPhone,” said Tom Galanis, merchandising VP for 6th Avenue Electronics, Springfield, N.J. He added, “A cellphone store is a cellphone store. My feeling is they are shooting themselves in the foot … Apple would be better served by picking a few higher-end retailers that have a track record of selling high-end technology.”
A New York company called Datavision said it sells 5,000 MP3 players a month and that if allowed to sell the iPhone it could sell 2,000 or more units at launch.
A spokesman for J&R Music World, New York, a long-time Apple dealer, said, “This is a product J&R is interested in as both an Apple and AT&T dealer. We think we can do a good job with it. Our customers have expressed a great deal of interest in the product.”
Amazon is even complaining as Noah Hershman, audio/video director said, “Amazon has eager, early-adopter customers who are very interested in new technology. And we’ve seen through many of the high-end electronics we’ve introduced over the years, including cameras and MP3 players, that our customers are very interested in new products and trends.”
Basically, everyone wants a piece of the iPhone, especially when except for a few service problems it appears to be living up to all the hype and for those who like playing on the web, even surpassing it. Apple however is probably right to keep it exclusive as the harder something is to get the more people want it, and with an expensive phone people want to feel like it’s worth there money. Apple at the moment has the world in their pocket and they know it, so I think they’ll keep it there, just as long they can.
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