Opinion: Phoney

However, resellers aren't going to make any money out of the iPhone even if they are already an Apple outlet, because Apple won't let them stock the thing. Apple is a company which succeeds despite its boneheaded treatment of its channel, which begs the question, how much market share could the company be squandering?

Imagine Apple's range of sleek geek kit being offered in every store which wanted to sell the stuff. Imagine not having to compete with the vendor's own stores both online and in the street. That's enough of that – it's never going to happen while Jobs is in charge of the show.

It seems he's got so much money he doesn't care about market share, and he seems to care even less about resellers, doing everything he can think of to put them offside or just plain sideline them. No other vendor would dare treat the channel with such contempt. Why do Apple resellers tolerate this behaviour?

Once upon a time the margins were pretty damn attractive on Apple kit, but that really was a long time ago now. Perhaps the masochists who are also resellers need something to sell? Maybe the Macintosh peripherals market is booming?

Nah, any old thing connects to a Mac since Apple switched to Unix under the hood. And if you're into pain you could just bang your head against the shop walls. No matter, the iPhone will get about a zillion times more coverage than it ever gets market share.

Go figure.