Apple Inc is planning to undergo a major expansion. The company that has products like the iPhone and the iPad is now targeting small business. They are planning to hire engineers in at least a dozen U.S retail stores to install Apple computer systems meant for small businesses.
This expansion makes sense given that there are already thousands of businesses that run on Apple products, the company has now focused on consumer and niche markets such as media firms and design. Apple wants to use the iPhone and iPad as selling points to leverage more expensive products like Macintosh computers and servers. It is using its 300 retail stores to reach out to local businesses. Apple is also recruiting from within the sales staff so as to form a specialized team to negotiate leasing and pricing terms for customers.
It is unlikely that Apple would be facing more competition from competitors like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. But Apple is eyeing the $310.8 billion that North American businesses are expected to spend on information technology this year. The figure will rise to $328.3 billion in the coming year. By capturing the sales, the annual revenue of Apple can grow up to 46% amounting to $62.6 billion in the current year. Brian Marshall, analyst in Gleacher & Co., says, “They’re well aware of the opportunities in business. This is something they’re focusing on even if they’re not talking about it publicly.”
A Virginia-based MacPro Solutions owner, Allen Cleaton, says, “Almost half of our new customers come from the Apple Store.” Cleaton can find local business as Apple’s general staff do not have the expertise to handle set up and maintenance of business computer networks. Apple just maintains an expert team for government agencies and big companies. As far as small and mid-sized businesses are concerned, it currently hands over responsibility to its retail stores. But now, Apple is updating its retail stores with conference rooms meant for meetings between sales team and higher echelons of business executives in order to equip their expansion plans.
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