Hey, c'mon, je1ani. There are perfectly good reasons to go through a reseller. In my case, for instance, they included:
- A not-so-minor discount (12% altogether, when software and peripherals were taken into account)
- Replacement of Apple's default memory (1 year warranty) with modules with a lifetime warranty
- Access to one or more layers of local expert support as a first, additional line of defense before having to go through Apple's hoops, while still having full access to Apple's tech support. Sometimes, as with my reseller, that includes specialized expertise, such as pro video, built up over decades, that is simply not available through Apple's more generic support systems.
- No access to an Apple Store within several hours' drive (the nearest one from here, at the far southern end of Oregon, is Portland, 250 miles away). Not very practical if, say, you need to go to the much-hyped "Genius Bar" to have someone figure out why your brand-new iMac is freezing up three times an hour, only to have said "Genius" tell you they can't find any documentation of said issue in the database, can't duplicate it, so tough luck. (This has happened to others.) I'd rather drive 5 minutes for this than 4 hours, thanks.
- More "soft" reasons, including relationships with local business, desire to support a local economy, keeping alive alternatives to more impersonal, arms-length economic interactions with big corporations, whatever.
Does any of this mean those who choose to go through resellers should expect lower levels of service from Apple? Come on. No one pointed a gun to Apple's head and said "you have to sell through resellers." Apple chose to develop, maintain, and nurture the channel. To their credit, I'll add - virtually no other computer company on the planet has gone to such lengths to support small local businesses, over many many years, when it's so much easier to sell through the WalMarts of the world, if you sell through anyone. Part of what makes Apple unique is the fact that you can still buy one of their machines through a local mom-and-pop shop, and often get better support in the bargain than you would by patronizing a huge chain store. Power to the people, man! (I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek, here - but only a little.)
More to the point - nowhere does Apple say "if you choose to buy through a reseller, expect to be at the bottom of the distribution pipeline." Nowhere do they tell their resellers that, either. They made commitments to their resellers' customers, to their resellers, and to the distributors in the middle, and they broke all of those. The resellers are not happy, either, believe me - and are getting, if anything, less information than the end-users on this forum. Don't blame the customers for being a bit peeved and confused about it all.
Especially those of us who are buying Macs for the first time, after 25 years in the PC world, after being told how much more human and hip and user-friendly Apple was. Some welcome! I'm still a believer, and still prepared to love my new iMac after the increasingly long wait I've had for it (if it works properly, that is, and doesn't freeze up every hour, like some I've heard about) - but c'mon, guy. You sound like you work for Microsoft, or something.
