History
An Apple Reseller befriended Dr. Gil Amelio, then CEO of Apple, and recommended that they form a premier reseller channel designation. Dr. Amelio assigned Paddy Wong and Loretta Flores of Apple the task of designing the program, with input from a few resellers. The original scope was fairly small, but only included resellers who mainly sold Apple products and not competitors.
Apple rolled out the Apple Specialist Program in December 1996. The program is still in place as of 2011.
Before the introduction of Apple retail stores, the Specialist resellers, typically locally owned small businesses, were primary contributors to retail sales channel and user support for the computer manufacturer among other Apple-authorized resellers and Value-added resellers.
As small businesses who had made a significant commitment to Apple and continued to have their own stake in the manufacturer's success, such companies helped end-users and small businesses understand and apply Apple's innovative technologies and solutions, assisted and fed Mac evangelism, and held Apple to a high standard of design, construction, and business practice during the lean days before Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997.
Specialist resellers must pass an annual comprehensive screening to be recognized and approved by Apple to retain Apple Specialist designation. One of the strict requisites is to have an exclusive compromise with Apple and don't sell competitive brands. Other ones moves the concept of small businesses, requiring them to have certain number of sq.fts of ShowRoom, and to be placed in notorious avenues, with street windows.
In 2004, members of Apple's Reseller Advisory Board formed the Apple Specialist Marketing Coop (ASMC). Since that time ASMC has grown to include over 160 members.
Read more about this topic: Apple Specialist
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)