Lesley Stones
9 June 2005
Johannesburg — APPLE is aiming to treble its computer sales to capture 3% of the local market by opening more retail outlets backed up by online sales.
Apple almost rotted away in the 1990s, but is flavour of the month again thanks to its must-have iPod music players, the funky designs of its Apple Macintosh computers and high-end software aimed squarely at the artistic professions.
The change in fortune was vividly demonstrated when demand for its Mini Mac outstripped the most optimistic forecasts fourfold.
That left Apple massively short of capacity, but customers proved that they were prepared to wait.
Locally, Apple sales have grown 50% a year for the past four years, although it only recently became a blip on the radar screens by winning 1% of desktop computer sales.
To achieve 3% it must sell 30000 computers, up from an expected 10000 this year.
Two years ago, Apple's revenue in SA was R2m a month. It is now R20m a month and rising, with the online store contributing R1,5m a month, said Rutger-Jan van Spaandonk, a director of Apple's local representative Apple IMC.
That is the new trading name of the Core Group, which has distributed Apple computers in SA for years. It is one of several companies controlled by the Ichikowitz family, with a minority of shares held by the staff. It does not have any empowerment ownership, but Spaandonk said that this would be rectified once the charter governing the hi-tech sector was ratified and the goals were clear.
Spaandonk is confident of reaching his sales targets.
"We are going to convert a lot of PC users to Macs and there are a number of reasons people will switch," he said.
He said that design was one reason and security was another. "People who use a Mac find they never have spyware or viruses because the operating system is more secure."
By the end of the year, the company will have opened at least seven franchised Apple centres, with the next opening in Cape Town's V&A Waterfront later this month.
Apple is targeting its high-end, R60000 Power Mac at creative professionals such as graphic designers and video producers.
For consumers, the teenage market is potentially huge, with its Macs allowing people to edit photographs and video clips, add some music and a diary and publish the results in online blogs. "All of a sudden computers are fun, and that's what computers should be for consumers," said Spaandonk.
"We have stopped trying to get an Apple on everybody's desk, and now we are just aiming at the people who should be using one.
"If you input data at the bank then we can't help you."
The popularity of Apple's iPod music player should fuel that growth, by putting Apple at the top of fans' minds when they shop for a computer. Apple is on track to sell up to 50000 iPods in SA this year.
Macro and Incredible Connection stores are selling the iPod and may soon stock Apple computers.
Before the iPod revolution, those stores would not stock Apple models even if the company begged, Spaandonk said.
Although the profit margin on a Mac is generally higher than on a PC, the margins are not particularly good, Spaandonk says.
"That doesn't mean it can't be a good business, but you need to manage the inventory well."
Ironically, for all its innovations, Apple makes its best margins on peripheral products, including the iPod carrying case and its computer docking station.
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