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Apple offers dealer sales reps cash incentives to push iMac

Sell our kit and take away $30-50 per machine, offers Mac maker

After spurning Apple in the past, resellers are trying to jump on the iMac bandwagon after it emerged the Mac-maker is lining up 'spiff' incentives for dealers' sales reps. Apple is trying to expand its channel presence, with the reports suggesting the vendor is to offer US sales reps $30 per iMac sold in retail stores and $50 per PowerBook. A former Apple dealer, quoted on the MacInTouch Web site, said: "I delight in this news as all too often I have gone into CompUSA or recently Best Buy, and the sales staff have on occasion (right before my very eyes) tried to steer customers interested in Macs over to the Wintel side. I firmly believe this spiff programme will stimulate the heck out of Mac Sales." In the UK, Apple claimed demand for the iMac was so strong it could now pick and choose which British retailers stock the product. A spokesperson said it had been approached by many resellers, and had expanded the UK channel by ten Apple outlets since the iMac launch in September. However, he said there were no plans to introduce any equivalent spiff schemes over here. UK retail outlet Micro Anvika said it had sold around 300 iMacs since 5 September. Philip Barton, Micro Anvika's marketing manager, foresaw no threat from increased demand for Apple product by UK retailers. Indeed, he welcomed stores like Tesco selling the machines because it expanded the market for resellers. Barton confirmed sales had dropped from the initial mad scramble for the iMac, but said sales were still consistent at one or two iMacs per day. Introduced in the US in August, the iMac boosted Apple's share of the PC market to 11.7 per cent by last month, compared to 7.6 per cent the previous year. ®

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