The availability of the latest iPad from Apple is still confounding and frustrating South African end users, with no sign of “any light at the end of the supply tunnel”, said Christopher Riley, MD of notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company (Notebook.co.za and Laptop.co.za ) – a company who has been accused of parallel importing due to its continued efforts “to provide clients with what the want”.
Riley said shortages of the latest iPads are continuing, saying that the local Apple distributor, Core, has “given no clear indication of when this impasse will be resolved”.
He said that, as a result, his company would continue to use “any legal means” available to it to get its hand on stock due to ongoing requests from its clients – despite being branded by some companies, and people, as a “grey importer”.
“Frankly, right now this is a moot point. The marketplace wants the latest iPad and we are providing it to them – albeit at a higher price than the listed Apple price due to our higher import costs. We are making it quite clear to anyone that we deal with – and provide iPads to – that we are importing it ourselves or using our import partners.
“I think computer companies are also generally worried because they have to order a certain amount of stock – sometimes more than they want to. With the continual concerns about stock availability there is also the possibility that they could be out of pocket by committing to a certain stock consignment – and paying for it –and then having to wait too long to secure the stock in order to sell.”
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