MacOS Rumors meldt dat er sterke geruchten gaan dat Steve geleidelijk wil overgaan op een direct-sales model a la Dell:
According to what I have heard from Apple dealers around the country, next week there is a BIG meeting in San Jose. [Rumor has it] Apple is about to axe their Education distributors and go direct with Education sales.The dealers I have talked to say that this is a "dry" run for pulling a "Dell" and going customer direct *totally* once they have the kinks worked out of the system. It seems to make sense that you would want to start this type of project on a small scale, and work up to a national level once all (or most) of the gremlins have been killed.
Supposedly, this means that what you had reported on earlier - the Apple owned Apple stores - are not as dead as [they might] appear. From what I hear, they will be service centers first and foremost, with the sales coming from web terminals set up in the store, hooked up to the good ol' Apple store.
No sales personnel means a lower overhead, and greater control for Apple. Which is what I think they are angling for now anyway.
