Apple's Reseller Strategy Frustrates Partners

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It was Jan. 27, 2004, and in the Cupertino, Calif., offices of Apple, members of the company's reseller advisory board were about to try something new.

The board had been trying for months to battle low morale in the Apple channel. The Mac retail machine was gaining steam and several lawsuits had been taken out against Apple by its channel partners. Many VARs weren't even sure if they were going to be able to stay in business.

So, that afternoon, Apple was lending its office to help publicize the launch of the Apple Specialist Marketing Co-Op, an organization created by solution providers for solution providers.

"There was just a lot of pessimism in the channel at that point in time," recalls Kevin Langdon, president of Crywolf, an Apple solution provider based in San Diego, who just a few months before had become a member of the advisory board. To battle the uncertainty in the Apple channel, the board wanted to see if they could "pull together and start working on something positive" that would raise morale and "create opportunities for all of us," Langdon said. More than 100 Apple resellers tuned into the Marketing Co-op's webcast that afternoon. Within 48 hours, the group had signed up over 40 members, the number they'd hoped to recruit over the next six months.

The following spring, the Apple Specialist Marketing Co-op had its first meeting in Portland, Ore. More than 100 resellers attended. "It was transformative. It was amazing," Langdon said. "There were lots of people with a lot of uncertainty. We came together and felt the energy of the group," he said. "We had speakers talking to us about how to grow our businesses, how to better manage our businesses, how to take positive steps to market our businesses. The whole purpose was to help people do a better job to grow their own businesses." And the group has done just that.

The Co-op recently surveyed 35 Apple Specialist Dealers and Authorized Service Providers and found that 95 percent had grown their businesses in 2007. More than 30 percent of respondents grew by more than 30 percent in 2007, including Crywolf, which grew 32 percent. What's more, 100 percent of respondents to the survey said they expected to grow in 2008 in both sales and services.

Going It Alone

Yet, despite the growth and sunny expectations for the future, many Apple VARs say they find working with the company, although it has its positives, leaves a lot to be desired.

Angela O' Donnell, managing director of New York City-based Apple solution provider W. O'Donnell Consulting, says Apple provides "excellent" training via the Web, and the company is quick to provide information about new products when they're officially released. But, she says, Apple simply doesn't embrace the channel the way other vendor partners do, or work with VARs to foster their growth. "They're trying, but I don't think they're a super channel-focused company," O'Donnell said. "It's very different from say IBM or Microsoft [that have] all these teams of channel people that are really after you trying to get you to be aware of their programming," she said.

"It's kind of a mystery relationship in a way," she said. "I don't want to insult them in any way, but I don't know where we fit into the puzzle. I don't hear the channel dedication speeches or anything that we hear from other manufacturers."

ChannelWeb tried to get some answers about the company's channel strategy, but, despite repeated requests, Apple's channel chief, John Brandon, declined to be interviewed for this article.

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