Galery

1

Anastasia Balezdrova

Earlier this week, Apple announced that the orders for its latest product - iPhone 5 have reached 2 million worldwide in just one day. At the same time, the price of a company’s share has reached $ 700 – a proof that sales are good, despite the crisis.
GRReporter decided to conduct its own investigation on the impact of the crisis on the sales of high-tech products, whose prices are quite high. In Greece, large chains of shops offering equipment sell Apple products as well as AAR shops (Apple Authorised Reseller) and APR shops (Apple Premium Reseller). We visited the shop called golden - i and talked to the sales manager Dominikos Pritis.

"Our shop is of the APR type (Apple Premium Reseller). Since the company has no representation in Greece, we resemble the Apple store the most.  Apple has verified everything in the most rigorous way - how the shops looks, the clothes, our knowledge and skills," he said in his presentation.

Mr. Pritis, how does the crisis affect the sales of Apple products?

There is no crisis for us. The people who buy Apple products are their greatest fans and prefer them purposefully. Customers buying cell phones of some of the most popular brands do not come to our shop. They continue to buy their new products.
Our customers buy only Apple products.

What is the profile of your customers?

The range is great. From a professional point of view, they are people from those who are dealing with new technologies to lawyers, physicians and others. Of course, the majority of them have better than average financial means. In terms of age, our customers are also very different. They start from 16-year-olds who clearly do not buy the products with their own money and end at the elderly. For example, our support technician has a meeting now with a 70-year old woman who has an iPad.

Which of the products attract the greatest interest?

iPhone is in the first place. When it was launched nearly 5 years ago, it provoked a revolution regarding our attitude to smart phones at the time. Things have been evolving in the same way. Every time a new model is launched, it causes true commotion. For example, 2 million orders for the new model iPhone 5 were recorded worldwide in a day. So, it defeated the record of the model 4S, for which one million pre-orders were made in a day. It should be noted that the first criticisms of the iPhone 5 were not very strong.

iPad is another product, in which interest is growing exponentially. Many people use it to replace equipment such as cameras, game consoles and computers.

Do you have data on the pre-orders for iPhone 5 in Greece?

The three mobile operators in our country sell iPhone and each has its own data. On the other hand, the official date of the iPhone 5 sales in Greece has not yet been announced. Therefore, we do not even have the lists of pre-orders.

What are the new features of iPhone 5 which distinguish it from iPhone 4S?

The first one is the design. The main material is different. To be resistant, the back of the iPhone 4S was made of the glass which is used for the portholes of airplanes. In the new model, it is made of aluminium.
The device is thinner, the screen is a little bigger - 4 inches, while that of iPhone 4S is 3.7 inches. The processor is faster and the lens is enhanced. We must add to this the new operation system iOS6, which brings some new features, but they are also available to the owners of iPhone 4S. In practice, iPhone 5 is the next stage of the very successful product iPhone 4S. It is not something quite new.

Apple products are not cheap. Do you offer special terms for their purchase?

Apple Company pursues a policy of price protection, i.e. prices are the same everywhere. From that point on, each of the shops, which sells Apple products, can offer different incentives such as payment in interest-free monthly instalments. In addition, we have regular promotions that increase these instalments. For example, we and all the other APR shops are currently selling iPad in 12 interest-free instalments. We offer special prices to pupils, students and various promotions.

Why do you personally prefer the products of Apple?

I have been working in such a shop for 5 years now. Since the moment I got Apple products in my hands, I have never returned to Windows. These products do not take your time. They just work. And because I was short of spare time, I needed a computer to do things instead of wasting hours to do things related with it.
A little later, iPhone appeared which was also something new. It was the first phone with a touch screen. In addition, the successful iPod was already introduced in it as well as the connection to the Internet.
I have iPhone, iPad, and Mac book. First, it is because they connect perfectly to each other. Now my iPad is at home but whatever I download now on the iPhone, I'll be able to see it on the iPad when I get home. The same applies to the Mac book. In my opinion, the purchase of such equipment is an investment, because they will be "serving" their owner for years.

What else can we expect?

You do not know with Apple. It may be uploading a new product on its web site while we are talking. It seems weird and not so much in the style of Apple to launch iPad mini, but it is not excluded. They may have assessed the target group and everything and may launch it. We have no official information at present. What we are now awaiting is the new iPhone 5.

At the end of the conversation, the manager said that golden-i actually witnessed "Apple store" moments with large queues and impatient customers. "This happened when Apple launched the iPad. In particular, for the iPad 2 six months ago, when the crisis was not so severe, 10 people were waiting at the shop at 7 am. We did not accept pre-orders then because their number was small - about 50 and we decided that it would not be fair. So, when we opened the shop, around 100 people came in at once. The same thing happened when we got the iPad 3 a few months ago, but there were fewer people then."