Selling technology

The New York Times asks why Apple can sell computers from retail stores while other companies like Sony, Dell and Gateway can't.

Apple stores do well because they are destinations. People will travel to see an Apple store either for cool new technology or to get help from the Genius Bar.

The Genius Bar is an important aspect to this, this enhances the brand and can only be done if your margins are high enough to afford to pay for the Geniuses.

Which is an interesting contrast to Dell's deal with Walmart. Once again, Dell have decided to follow the cheap route. That's fine, but it further locks Dell into the bottom end of the IT market.

The stack 'em high, sell 'em cheap model doesn't work for IT products: Computers are not baked beans.

To survive in the IT industry you need to establish relationships with your customers. But relationships cost time and money, which you can't do if you are selling cheap boxes to the bottom of the market. Apple can, and are, doing this while Dell can't afford it and Sony doesn't understand how to do it.