Apple needs G5 says CEO of Europe's Largest Mac dealer

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
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I've just read an interesting interview in the January edition of German Mac magazine MacUp. On page 14 one of the editors interviewed Klaus Weinmann, CEO of Europe's largest Apple dealer, Cancom. I'd like to quote some answers by Weinmann, which throw some light on Apple's woes in Europe and especially Germany where Apple has enormous problems getting off the ground. The answers are, to my mind, of importance to American readers and Mac users, too. Hopefully, also some Apple guy at Cupertino takes note. (I translated questions and answers from German for your convenience.)



Q. What's the state of Apple's market in Germany right now?

Weinmann: Apple sales have dropped 25 percent in Germany. We at Cancom experienced a decrease of 10 to 15 percent. We're hit less badly than the rest of the market, because right now we profit from our PC division. Competition is very tough which eats away the profit margins. There is going to be a great number of resellers going out of business.



Q. What must Apple do to recover?

Weinmann: Apple has made serious mistakes. Among other things they scrapped the three-year warranty. Moreover Apple has neglected the professional users. These are the people Apple and we make money with. The consumers are not our clients. With their Switcher campaign Apple addresses exclusively the consumers, but this doesn't work in Germany. Apple users in Germany are pro users. If Apple wrecks the German market things for Apple will look bad in Europe. We criticize Apple's unprofessional approach. What we need is the right hardware at the right time. Logistics must work, which means the products must be ready to ship when announced and must reach the clients fast. And goddam it, it's high time we get something for the professional market. We need the G5 processor. The next processor, together with OS X, must provide a REAL boost to performance. Or else, our users will not buy new Apple hardware and invest their money elsewhere.



Q. What is it you request from Apple?

Weinmann: I urgently ask Apple to listen to their clients. Steve Jobs is a great visionary, but it wouldn't diminish his reputation if he condescended to talk to some of his clients. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft does exactly this. Well, at least, we managed Pascal Cagni, boss of Apple Europe, to meet us and discuss our problems with Apple with us.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 155
    Cool it's Kostspieliges Schlechte Leistung Wachstum Steve!
  • Reply 2 of 155
    robbyrobby Posts: 108member
    Q. What must Apple do to recover?

    Weinmann: Apple has made serious mistakes. Among other things they scrapped the three-year warranty.



    when did this happen ive thought youve always had to pay for applecare. for the price you pay shouldnt applecare be an extra 3 year warrannty then 2 more years. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 3 of 155
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    [quote]Originally posted by Robby:

    <strong>Q. What must Apple do to recover?

    Weinmann: Apple has made serious mistakes. Among other things they scrapped the three-year warranty.



    when did this happen ive thought youve always had to pay for applecare. for the price you pay shouldnt applecare be an extra 3 year warrannty then 2 more years. <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" /> </strong><hr></blockquote>



    this may be a germany-only thing. i do recall that when buying applecare for our powerbook, the rep said it is good for service and repair from any certified apple representative in north america. i didn't think anything of it at the time, but maybe that was intentional.



    either way, steve will be mad, and in a hissy fit, remove sales of any macs to germany. ooohhh, you shouldn't have made steve angry...
  • Reply 4 of 155
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Need I say more?
  • Reply 5 of 155
    When your biggest Euro dealers are saying this...



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 6 of 155
    bigcbigc Posts: 1,224member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Need I say more?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    No.
  • Reply 7 of 155
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Are Apple prices in Europe still mind-bogglingly high? Part of the blame for that goes to the steep VATs imposed by the countries themselves, and there's not much Apple can do about that, but still...



    Unfortunately, Steve can't just put a G5 in a PowerMac, so it's not a matter of listening to customers. He knows full well what sort of bind they're in, which is why Apple stopped bake-offs and started bundling all kinds of goodies with PowerMacs. They're giving their customers two chips clocked 25% higher than their own manufacturer acknowledges, with the fastest standard RAM available on the market, and that's the best they can do for now. Steve will just have to grin and bear it until the next CPU starts rolling off the lines. That will happen when it happens, and not sooner.



    On the bright side, at least we know there's a knockout PowerPC on the horizon, and we know when it's coming. Sure beats reading about the 7500 in the Register.
  • Reply 8 of 155
    VAT just compounds the problem, Apple's european prices are already artificially high even before tax
  • Reply 9 of 155
    those sneaky germans are at it again.....





    <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 10 of 155
    "VAT just compounds the problem, Apple's european prices are already artificially high even before tax"



    Yeah. Us Brit's love living in 'Rip Off' Britain.



    Cars. Computers. Houses. You name it we seem to pay more for it.



    Would you USA folk like to pay our taxes on Petrol? ('Gas' as you guys call it..?)



    That doesn't seem to stop Dells being much cheaper over here than Apples though...especially when it comes to desktops...







    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 11 of 155
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    Some of the mac excuses are just amazing. The only price guage you need is that provided by the competition. PC makers pay tax too. They pay for RAM and LCD's too. Yet, they still manage to seriously undercut Apple prices. From listening to some of the mac community you'd think that Apple was somehow buying components made to military spec and paying a special Cupertino tax purposely designed by a malevolent PC industry bent on handicapping Apple's ability to deliver competitive prices. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> What costs Apple pretty much costs every other large box maker. There are no excuses.
  • Reply 12 of 155
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Some of the mac excuses are just amazing.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    What excuses?





    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>From listening to some of the mac community you'd think that Apple was somehow buying components made to military spec and paying a special Cupertino tax purposely designed by a malevolent PC industry bent on handicapping Apple's ability to deliver competitive prices. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> What costs Apple pretty much costs every other large box maker. There are no excuses.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    OS? Software?
  • Reply 13 of 155
    nebrienebrie Posts: 483member
    [quote]Originally posted by Matsu:

    <strong>Some of the mac excuses are just amazing. The only price guage you need is that provided by the competition. PC makers pay tax too. They pay for RAM and LCD's too. Yet, they still manage to seriously undercut Apple prices. From listening to some of the mac community you'd think that Apple was somehow buying components made to military spec and paying a special Cupertino tax purposely designed by a malevolent PC industry bent on handicapping Apple's ability to deliver competitive prices. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" /> What costs Apple pretty much costs every other large box maker. There are no excuses.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Don't ever go into business, you're as dumb as a brick.
  • Reply 14 of 155
    "Don't ever go into business, you're as dumb as a brick."



    Not as dumb as Apple. They gave away their OS.







    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 15 of 155
    "OS? Software?"



    If that amounted to a ten per cent premium as opposed to 50-150% premium, I'd say fair enough.



    (We know Apple has to OS/Software and stuff and Dell doesn't.)



    Maybe they ought to split themselves into a Software and Hardware company? Make each stand on its own two feet?



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 16 of 155
    Over the few years that Ive been reading this forum, the Apple share of the computer market has decreased. We are all aware of the regular debates here regarding Apple's pricing. Its hard to know what the optimum price should be for Macintosh. You know, the sales numbers vs. profit margin trade-off. But with their hardware becoming less competitive recently, an argument could be made for reducing prices. At least on the Power Macs. $3300?! I just bought my son a 2.0GHz Compaq at Costco for $990.



    I am not naive, I know they have to maintain a reputation of selling exclusive merchandise at exclusive prices. But until they get better chips, you don't think a little price reduction might not sell a few more boxes? I don't know for sure.



    Nevertheless, it is [B]not dumb[/B, especially at this time, to speculate that their prices are too high.
  • Reply 17 of 155
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    [quote]Originally posted by Nebrie:

    <strong>



    Don't ever go into business, you're as dumb as a brick.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Second.
  • Reply 18 of 155
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    [quote]Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon:

    <strong>

    Maybe they ought to split themselves into a Software and Hardware company? Make each stand on its own two feet?

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    Which is what Gil Amelio did when he was CEO. They arn't seperate companies, but the seperate divisions are forced to be financially independant.



    I don't know what this guy is smoking, because here in Australia Apple is gaining big time in popularity (from anecdotal evidence and personal experience).



    Barto
  • Reply 19 of 155
    [quote]Originally posted by Nebrie:

    <strong>



    Don't ever go into business, you're as dumb as a brick.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Third.
  • Reply 20 of 155
    stunnedstunned Posts: 1,096member
    Well, I hope Steve Jobs is listening.
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