“An authorized reseller in France has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging unfair competition, mirroring complaints by United States resellers that Apple favors its own retail stores over resellers when it ships new products,” Gary Allen reports for ifoAppleStore.
“As reported by Le Figaro, eBizcuss CEO François Prudent says his 16 locations in France suffered a 30 percent decline in business during the third quarter of 2011 after the supply of iPad 2 and MacBook Air laptops from Apple dried up,” Allen reports. “In the fourth quarter, his company could not obtain a supply of the iPhone 4s, Prudent said. He traced the product shortage began to November 2009 when the Carousel del Louvre Apple store opened in Paris, the country’s first.”
Allen reports, “In 2003—two years after Apple opened its first retail store, a northern California reseller [MACAdam] filed a federal lawsuit alleging Apple failed to ‘reasonably provide merchandise, goods, services and support’ that the reseller sold… Another reseller, MacSolutions Inc., also filed a lawsuit over similar issues in January 2006. That lawsuit was settled the next year.”
Read more in the full article here.
There’s an Apple Premium reseller in Bath, England, and they’ve been trading for years. There is also now an Apple store in the city, and Farpoint, who I always go to, don’t appear to have problems getting stock.
Just saying…
Well not in cheapskate UK, where having an Apple is like being a member of the royal family.
Class-system in the UK means everything is tainted, including this anecdotal info.
Wtf have you been smoking? When was the last time (if ever) you were in the UK?
Every country has poor, middle class and rich people. It’s the way of the world.
Oh and it’s simple business, better service earns repeat customers. Just another crap business moaning because they did a poor job and lost customers to a better store.
Carrousel du Louvre
We had 11 Apple resellers before Apple opened 3 stores in Montréal but the service was so so. The one that is still in business is excellent and doesn’t seem to suffer from the competition from Apple.
I don’t know how much sympathy I feel. Part of the reason, maybe the main reason, that Apple felt compelled to open their own stores was that the old network of resellers wasn’t getting the job done. They were, not to put too fine a point on it, crappy. So if Apple favors their own stores over those poorly-run wastes of space, I don’t really have a problem with it.
Of course, I’m talking as an American. I don’t know that the situation is the same in France.
——RM
Apple is worse partner to have. They screw over any business partner.
Resellers supported them years when things were no good.
Apple paid them back with a knife in the back.
Hear, hear!
I live in a UK City with three Apple resellers, and an Apple store. I still buy my goods in the resellers. The Apple stores are for newbies. Many other long term Mac users still support the Resellers. While I go into the Apple store for the Genius bar and repairs.