And the winner is – the Apple iPad

The iPad tablet from Apple is still the most popular tablet on the market – by far – and even the iPad 1 is on the wish list of some consumers before other new releases from Apple competitors, such as Samsung, Acer, HTC and Google.

This is according to Christopher Riley, CEO of laptop and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company – which manages the Laptop.co.za and Notebook.co.za online retail sites.

Recent research shows that there is actually a low level of consumer consideration and expectation levels for a non-Apple brand, with more than 75% of ‘hot prospects’ (respondents that are keen to get a tablet) considering purchasing an iPad 2- and a further three in five people expecting to get one.

“Interestingly,” said Riley, “the next most popular tablets are actually out-of-date – and that would be the original iPad, the iPad 1, and the Samsung Galaxy tab. Both tablets scored a yes vote of just over 10% of those polled, who are  expecting to buy one”

According to research conducted by YouGov other tablet competitors – like HTC, Blackberry and Acer – do even worse.

While 77% of those ‘hot prospects’ polled appear keen to purchase an iPad 2, just 3% of these ‘hot prospects ‘expect to get a HTC, 2% a Blackberry, and only 1% an Acer.

Riley said sales of Apple iPads have accounted for 40% of his company’s total revenue so far this year. “Two years ago – before the Apple iPad arrived – Apple sales were more or less a blimp on our sales sheets.”

The Notebook Company launches tabletZ.co.za Online Retail Site to grow tablet sales

   

Notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company – which manages Laptop.co.za and Notebook.co.za online retail sites – is to launch tabletZ.co.za site as part of a plan to capture more of the tablet market.

Christopher Riley, CEO of The Notebook Company, said tablet sales now account for the lion’s share of the company’s revenue, with Apple’s popular iPads leading the revenue stakes by “a long way”.

“The Notebook Company took ownership of the Notebook.co.za online site in 1997 when thin laptops were referred to as notebooks, similar to now when thin Laptops are called ultrabooks.  We then took ownership of the Laptop.co.za site during 2008 and started managing it in parallel with Notebook.co.za.

“For the past year we have been looking for the right online name to take our tablet business further – with some cyber squatters wanting up to R250 000 for some appropriately named domains. We thought long and hard before coming up with the name tabletZ.co.za – and it is now our new online name for tablets. Who knows, maybe we might release some tabletZ branded tablets in the future. ” Riley quipped.

WARRANTY REPAIR CENTRES ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THEY SAY THEY ARE – THE NOTEBOOK COMPANY

Repair centres – many of which handle warranty repairs for brand name products – are often “too slow, and not as good as they purport to be”, said Christopher Riley, CEO of notebook and accessories retailer, The Notebook Company, which manages the Laptop.co.za , Notebook.co.za and recently also tabletZ.co.za online retail sites.

The Notebook Company has recently come under fire from some corners for steadfastly importing the iPad tablets, while not being an authorized distributor for Apple. Despite this, The Notebook Company was the first company to introduce the very first iPad into SA – and was also the first to import the much-vaunted New iPad better known as the  iPad 3 .  While other vendors – including the local Apple distributor – were unable to get their hands on product, The Notebook Company continued to lead the pack, finding a way to provide its clients with the popular iPads.

“We have always made it quite clear to our clients that we are not official Apple distributors. However, we have offered them our own warranty and, at the end of the day, if we are unable to repair a unit, we simply do a swap-out with a similar priced and featured model –  this has happened a few times - Apples also go faulty - much less than other brands in my experience,” said Riley.

Riley said while The Notebook Company is not an official Apple distributor, he believes his current service levels are “arguably on par with the Local Apple warranty, or even better, and definitely better than most other major brand's third party repair centres”.

These might be brave words, but so far The Notebook Company has been able to put its money where its mouth is.

Parallel importing – still the main way to get hold of the latest Apple iPads?

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_import

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.”

RETAILERS FACE MAJOR RISKS OF FRAUD AS STANDARD BANK STILL HAS NOT CHANGED ITS INTERNET BANKING PAYMENT POLICY

 Retailers – or in fact, anyone trading via electronic funds transfer – are open to high levels of risk of falling victim to fraudulent payments since banks, like Standard Bank, no longer reflect bank-to bank EFTs on the same day or real time.

According to Christopher Riley, CEO of notebook accessories and retailer, The Notebook Company (Notebook.co.za and Laptop.co.za), the fact that EFT payments at Standard Bank take longer then 24 hours to reflect, retailers are open to huge risks from fraudulent client payments. Operations are also often retarded as retailers have to ‘wait’ for transaction confirmations

Riley said it is a “massive problem” for retailers.  Banks appear to be ignoring the importance of reflecting same-day payments on the same day and “are turning a blind eye”.

No longer  is Standard Bank our Primary account

 It appears Standard Bank has  taken on this attitude.

“While Standard Bank was our main bank they showed no inclination to even listen to our concerns. The powers seemed unperturbed about the possible consequences for many of their clients. Consequently, The Notebook Company has changed its primary account to ABSA (after 22 years).

 “Frankly,” said Riley, “when queried about the 24 hour delay, Standard Bank staff simply dug their heels in, saying that Internet payments from one Standard Bank to another can take up to 24 hours to reflect. That’s just how things work.

Riley believes this is unacceptable. “We all know payments from one bank to another can take a few days - but we in retail all also understood same bank to same bank should be immediate. That is how we have been selling for over a decade. But ,” he said, “it seems Standard Bank has simply made an about turn and decided this is not how it is done.”

The implications of Standard Bank database updates not being immediate are ‘disastrous for the retailing sector’.

“This banking policy from Standard Bank is a huge problem for distributors and wholesalers – and for retailers that sell high value items.

Scamster continuesly  tries to dupe The Notebook Company

“Over time,” said Riley, “many scamster have tried to dupe us with a manufactured  stolen, or stopped cheques totaling over R1 million, which were "paid" to The Notebook Company’s  account as Internet payments.

“We know the tricks - but it does bring down our productivity and it wastes a lot of our time.    This is why we have banking accounts with all the major banks as it makes it possible for us to check that the money is irreversible before releasing.  But having to wait for 24 hours from Standardbank to Standardbank causes serious problems.

Paradigm shift for the youth with iPads?

There has always been a race for a US 100 dollar laptop to supply the masses and the under-privileged and while this dream is not yet a reality, it appears the emergence of the iPad will, nonetheless, be playing a part in making it possible for the underprivileged and poor to have access to a computer, the Internet and unlimited knowledge.

This is according to Christopher Riley, MD of The Notebook Company, one of the country’s leading notebook and accessories retailers – and a large supplier of iPads.

“Many people are saying iPads are just too expensive and will be beyond the reach of the masses. You can pick up an iPad for as little as US 400 dollars, but this is arguably still out of the reach of many. But the easy-to-use features and the Internet capacity of iPads are nonetheless changing the world of computing. As iPads become more ubiquitous and start to replace more and more laptops, we will see prices come down – and then we may see some paradigm shifts,” said Riley.

Indeed, Apple’s iPad has had a massive impact on the local market, so much so, that retailers in South Africa have noted an increase in sales of the device, which has led to the decline in the sale of PCs and laptops. Tablets aren’t killing personal computers yet, but they are making consumers think long and hard before buying laptops.

RILEY SAID IPADS HAVE CREATED A ‘PARADIGM SHIFT’. “IPADS HAVE GALVANISED THE SHIFT TO TABLETS, WHICH ARE FAST-BECOMING THE COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTON FOR THE MASSES. INDEED, IF IT WERE NOT FOR THE INVENTION AND ARRIVAL OF THE IPAD, THE PHENOMENON OF THE TABLET WOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED.”

Consulting firm Gartner recently lowered its PC shipment forecast for 2011 and 2012, saying soaring sales of tablets will result in far fewer notebook and netbook sales over the next two years than originally expected. “We expect growing consumer enthusiasm for mobile PC alternatives, such as the iPad and other media tablets, to dramatically slow mobile PC sales,” said George Shiffler, research director at Gartner.

Gartner expects tablet sales of 54 million in 2011, up from 15 million iPads sold by Apple – alone – in 2010.

THE NOTEBOOK COMPANY promotes Dell via Laptop.co.za/Dell Instead of DellLaptop.co.za

DELL

After heading for what seemed like an expensive court battle, The Notebook Company (Notebook.co.za and Laptop.co.za) - a leading notebook and accessories retailer and on-line retailer - has agreed to have the domain name DellLaptop.co.za deleted and will now promote Dell Laptops underLaptop.co.za/Dell. The company has also replaced the Dell Logo on its websites: www.laptop.co.za and www.notebook.co.za with "Dell PartnerDirect Registered" logos in terms of what was requested by Dell.

This follows four months of ongoing negotiations after Dell informed The Notebook Company – via its lawyers, Adams & Adams – that all the Dell logos must be removed from any signage, websites or material material displayed by The Notebook Company.

Until recently it looked as if the companies were poised for a court battle.

Said Christopher Riley, Ceo of The Notebook Company: “Dell owns the trademark, and we seem to have no right using it without their permission, even though we have sold their products for over 10 years. We also buy from their official distribution channel - During this period  we have also  been made a ‘Dell PartnerDirect Registered’ agent.    

 “I am still of the belief that you will not find this kind of silliness from other brands that have used the channel for a long time. Technically, each time you see an advert using logos of products such as HP, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, Acer  from a retailer they should have received permission from  the trademark holder to display the logo. We all know this does not happen. But there seems to be a gentleman's agreement that if you don't create damage for my brand I will allow you to use my brand's name in adverts and materials without pointing out the technicalities of the law to you.

It still concerns me that Dell makes is quite difficult for prospective customers to find retailers of its products - We still have difficulty promoting Dell even through Google - Dell is not allowed in the advert text - Making it difficult to say - We sell Dell!