Parallel imports juice up Apple market

By ADAM GIFFORD

A parallel importer of Apple computers says he should get a gold medal for bringing down the price of the brand here.

But official Apple distributor Renaissance and Apple reseller Magnum Mac say exchange rate fluctuations and the effect of parallel imports on the Australian market are the reasons that prices have fallen.

C Squared Technology has been importing Apples from an Asian supplier, selling them through newspaper ads and word of mouth.

Owner Leicester Chatfield said he had brought in "hundreds and hundreds" of iMacs, iBooks and Powerbooks, selling them for up to $1000 less than official retailers.

He claimed Renaissance had to match his prices, but Renaissance marketing manager Bronwyn Sinclair, said C Squared had benefited from the strength of the New Zealand dollar against the United States and Australian dollars.

"He is able to buy from his source in US dollars. We have to buy from Apple Australia in Australian dollars. For a while there was a big difference between the US and the Australian price, but that had now been fixed," she said.

C Squared was running a larger operation than previous parallel importers, who tended to import two or three Machines at a time, but it was "more a nuisance than a threat".

Magnum Mac managing director Murray Wood, whose chain of stores accounts for about a third of Mac sales, said the most immediate impact from C Squared's activities was an increase in foot traffic at their Newton Rd store.

"My Auckland managers say C Squared sends people down to our showroom so they know what to order," Wood said. "We have been able to get some of those sales once we work out what people are doing."

He said Australia now allowed parallel importing, lowering Apple Australia prices.

Warranty issues were the biggest drawback when buying from a parallel importer, he said. "Even with the mobiles, which supposedly have a worldwide warranty, Apple can force the owner to send it back to the country of origin for repair."

But Chatfield said warranties weren't a big issue.

"We do have Apple guys on call if there are any issues, and if they can't sort it out, we can ship it back to the supplier."

He said C Squared did not have expensive overheads such as retail space and big marketing budgets.

C Squared's most recent list featured prices only a little lower than Magnum Mac. For example, the entry level 30cm iBook was $1900 plus GST, compared with $2049 down the road.

It is offering the new G5 that will not be officially available here until the end of the month, for $3994 plus GST. Renaissance's recommended retail price is $3899 plus GST.

Chatfield was formerly a director of UCC technology, a computer reseller that was put into liquidation after Dell Computer allegedly withdrew its agency for it to sell Dell equipment to universities.

Before Chatfield and his partners bought it, UCC had also resold Apple computers into the tertiary sector.

Chatfield said he had talked to Renaissance about becoming an official Apple reseller, but couldn't accept its terms.

"They said you can't sell to this college, you can't sell to that college because we do that."

Research firm International Data Corporation's preliminary figures for the June quarter put Apple's share of the New Zealand PC market at 3.3 per cent.