Academy Store survives ram-raid now faces direct Apple stores

"I am incredibly disappointed,"

"The flagship store was not good news for independent IT resellers and if Apple opens a store in Chatswood then it will become a direct threat for some of the Apple reseller in that area. I see these stores as final confirmation about what Apple has been denying for so long," he said.

According to Morgan, Apple's "rudimentary denial" about direct stores has been in one sense "kind of stupid and silly".

"The world knows it's an Apple store that's going to be opening up in CBD, even if there are no official announcements. It has tried to hide the fact that it's opening in direct competition with channel partners," he said.

Morgan claimed Apple's direct model puts "intense pressure on the channel" and its "aggressive market share" is unlike anything independent IT resellers are capable of launching.

"I'm sure when the stores open it will also launch the iPhone. Apple will keep it exclusively and at the sheer sacrifice of people before releasing it to the rest of the channel. What it doesn't understand is two thirds of my staff and two thirds of my customers have already got an iPhone, through eBay and friends located in the US. It's hilarious that Apple should guard the IPhone when customers can get it via other means because they just can't wait for the product," he said.

According to Morgan he has been told by some Apple customers that they feel "Apple puts more importance on the product and not enough importance on the customer".

"At the end of the day I have survived by the skin of my teeth and I have never come closer to being tipped over the edge than after the ram raid. I put our survival down to having incredible third party distributors. It was a difficult 18 months and we tested distributors like Express Data. They showed us the importance of keeping a good business alive and to just weather a bad storm. My view is no business is worth abandoning and it can be fixed. All it comes down to are the relationships that you have," he said.

On the 25 January 2007, Sydney-based Apple retail outlet Academy Store was ram-raided for $200,000 worth of stock. The store was hit in the early hours, by a gang of thieves who looted the store for various goods. At the time Morgan told CRN the Academy Store was insured for a limited amount of loss for the stock.

“We suffered a lot and it was a very difficult period of time. It was perhaps one of the worst things that could happen financially. At the time I was insured for a limited amount of loss, but in the end we marched on and I got on the sales floor and sold as many products as possible,” he said.

According to Morgan, the reseller had relatively strong Apple business and it spent a considerable amount of money on the Bondi Junction store, which has has set the businesses’ development back three years.

“We dragged ourselves back and held on and are now happy and hopeful that we will be able to regain momentum in the market,” he said.

Morgan told CRN that it had opened an online store to sell Apple products a couple of months ago and it has been aggressively getting it out into the marketplace.

“I want to make sure the Academy Store as a company has a parallel range of services and provides what Apple is providing. You don’t have to be an Apple computer - in my view - we will be making a very outstanding store. Although there’s always the million dollar question, what will be the long term affect? One can’t help but be optimistic and manage to the best of one’s ability,” he said.

However a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald has revealed that Apple was putting the finishing touches on its flagship store, announced to the media in 2007, and might be opening another two stores in Chatswood, Sydney and in Chadstone Melbourne.

Apple media spokesperson John Marx told CRN, “no official announcements have been made about the stores and the relationship that we have [channel partners] is something we don’t discuss publicly.”

“Three [Apple] stores, I am incredibly disappointed. The flagship store was not good news for independent IT resellers and if Apple opens a store in Chatswood then it will become a direct threat for some of the Apple reseller in that area. I see these stores as final confirmation about what Apple has been denying for so long,” he said.

According to Morgan, Apple’s “rudimentary denial” about direct stores has been in one sense “kind of stupid and silly”.

“The world knows it’s an Apple store that’s going to be opening up in CBD, even if there are no official announcements. It has tried to hide the fact that it’s opening in direct competition with channel partners,” he said.

Morgan claimed Apple’s direct model puts “intense pressure on the channel” and its “aggressive market share” is unlike anything independent IT resellers are capable of launching.

“I’m sure when the stores open it will also launch the iPhone. Apple will keep it exclusively and at the sheer sacrifice of people before releasing it to the rest of the channel. What it doesn’t understand is two thirds of my staff and two thirds of my customers have already got an iPhone, through eBay and friends located in the US. It’s hilarious that Apple should guard the IPhone when customers can get it via other means because they just can’t wait for the product,” he said.

According to Morgan he has been told by some Apple customers that they feel “Apple puts more importance on the product and not enough importance on the customer”.

“At the end of the day I have survived by the skin of my teeth and I have never come closer to being tipped over the edge than after the ram raid. I put our survival down to having incredible third party distributors. It was a difficult 18 months and we tested distributors like Express Data. They showed us the importance of keeping a good business alive and to just weather a bad storm. My view is no business is worth abandoning and it can be fixed. All it comes down to are the relationships that you have,” he said.