iPad sales are down quite a few percentage points at The Notebook Company as Apple resolves its supply problems to users in South Africa, says CEO Christopher Riley.
He adds that, since 2011 Apple had been battling to supply the South African market timeously with product, allowing The Notebook Company to “use its channels of supply” to provide local users when Apple could not.
Riley comments: “When Apple could not supply enough products – or on time – we managed to source product, albeit at a premium. There was very little resistance to price at that stage – users just wanted to get their hands on iPads. In fact, there were frenzied buying patterns, for short periods of time, as new models entered the market.”
However, during the past few months, Apple seems to have finally solved its “supply-side problems”, says Riley.
“Our iPad sales are consequently down. But we believe this drop in sales is due to the fact that Apple is now supplying its latest products to the South African market, meeting both volumes and timeframes.
“While demand is still there, there doesn’t seem to be that frenzied demand over shorter periods of time, which we experienced in 2011 and 2012. ”