Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) may authorize a second importer of its products, in addition to iDigital Ltd. Apples sales reps have met several Israeli retailers, one of which is reportedly HY Group, the authorized importer for several top electronics companies, including Motorola Mobility LLC, whose smartphones it sells.
Market sources say that Apple wants to flood the market with as many iPhones as possible, and that it is seeking another authorized importer for this purpose. Although iDigital is Apple's authorized importer, it is not the biggest seller of iPhones.
Israeli large mobile carriers - Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) and Pelephone Communications Ltd. - all import iPhones, and iDigital sells through its chain of stores. Under these circumstances, a new authorized Apple importer will compete against both iDigital and the mobile carriers.
When Apple launched official iPhone sales in Israel, the mobile carriers promised it especially high sales targets, but struggled to meet them. This difficulty may be exacerbated by the entry of a new authorized importer.
For consumers, this may not be much in the way of good news. Apple is known as a company that keeps relatively fixed prices, and the entry of another importer will not necessarily herald lower retail prices, except possibly initially and marginally.
A market source told "Globes" that Apple's move was because half of smartphone sales in Israel are on the open market at retailers, not by authorized importers. A new authorized importer might tip the scales, and this is what Apple is counting on.
iDigital said in response, "We don’t respond to rumors."
HY Group was unavailable for comment.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 7, 2013
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013