(apple)mac geek

“The world is flat!” Thomas Friedman proclaimed in 2005, meaning that the world has become a global village, where all players have a equal opportunity. I wish he was right, because that would mean that we in South Africa would have the same access to Apple computers as the rest of the First World.

Thanks to Core, we have that access, but it comes at a price, a price which Core refuses to explain to online community, so continuing to maintain the perception that they are a monopoly focusing on one thing: profit, and profit only.

cmyplay.com has an interesting infographic showing the price of a 13” Macbook Pro around the world, and South Africa comes in second most expensive, just after Brazil.

Worldwide Macbook Prices

TUAW picked this up and have some interesting comments on their post.

If Core was paying attention, they could point out that the graphic shows greater differentiation between prices than the actual numbers show. If Core bothered to interact with the online community, they would be able to point out that the South African prices are similar to prices in other countries. If Core cared at all about customer perception, they’d hire someone to reach out to the online community instead of isolating and vilifying us. My Christmas wish (from last year really – I didn’t make one so figure I have some credit!) is that Core would stop their command-and-control ways, and enter into conversations with their customers.

I wish the world really was flat. And I wish Core would reach out to the online community in healthy ways.

Comments(2)

Turns out it’s legal to spam people if you’re South African.
(Read the article)

Comments(2)

Spam sucks. Americans have gotten a lot better at online marketing recently: only double-opt in lists are allowed (by law). Whereas South Africans suck email addresses out of the air and send unsolicited mail (spam) without asking the recipients to opt-in first. I can’t stop them, so the best I can do is publish their email addresses here in the hope spambots will pick them up, and send them lots of spam. Justice? I hope so.

[Update: turns out double-opt in lists aren't required, and South Africans can subscribe people to their newsletters without their permission. In my book, this exactly what spam is, but South African law doesn't agree.]

[Update: I've deleted Diane's details from this post. After emailing her, she promptly responded saying that I'd been on her database for over a year and only sent 3 emails in that time (which is true) and that I could've unsubscribed earlier, which is also true. She denies being a spammer and wants me to only go after bigger companies. While she's incorrect that she's not a spammer (i.e. she sent me unsolicited commercial email) she does say that she spends a lot of money monthly making sure she complies with the marketing regulations. Diane, legally you're in the right (i.e. you can subscribe anyone you like to your newsletter) but if you do that, you're breaching internet etiquette - double opt-in lists are the way to go. I hope you've stopped subscribing random people to your list.]

The Diamond Life @ The Bank, Rosebank, Johannesburg, Sat 19 September

Sent out by anythinggoes.co.za on Sept4 2009, this spam is about some new club launch in Jozi. Didn’t subscribe, lads.

C2IT Computer Hardware

c2it@wec2it.com sales@c2it.co.za prize@c2it.co.za

These guys make me chuckle. Their disclaimer at the bottom of their newsletter says,

We support responsible and ethical email marketing practices. Please know that we respect your right to be purged from this marketing campaign. Removal from this email distribution list is automatically enforced by our email delivery system. Please click here to start the process for email deletion.

Wow, they “respect my right to be purged from this marketing campaign.” What about my right to not be added to it in the first place?!?! They also say,

The person addressed in the email is the sole authorised recipient.

Authorised by who? Not by me, that’s for sure.

We encourage and support best practices in responsible email marketing.

Great! Best practices are double-opt in lists, otherwise you run the risk of annoying some random person out there who posts your website and your email addresses on his blog. I look forward to seeing if this post shows up higher on Google listings on searches for C2IT Computer Hardware.

These guys are also very, very annoyed by C2IT’s spammy practices.

[Updated: some Eagle-eyed car group selling Fords and Mazdas]

[Updated: kaleidoscope advertising and marketing say they got my name from Google.]

Comments(11)

Today’s exchange rate is R7.94 to $1. Core charge R24,000 for the 15 inch 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro (http://www.zastore.co.za/macbookpro0810.php) and it’s available from the Apple site for $1,999 (http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro).

Using the above exchange rate, $1,999 = R15,869.16. That’s a difference of R8130.84 which is 51% markup. 51%!!! Are you kidding me? This is unacceptable; I’ve sent an open email to Core asking why this is. Why do you, dear South African Apple user, think this is? And what can be done about it?

Comments(8)

This is an open letter to Greg Hill from Core asking him to answer a few questions. Firstly, whether Core apply 51% markup to all of their products. Secondly, if Core hope that people reading Stop Grey will really be convinced to not buy grey Apple products. And lastly, what Core is doing to engage Apple users in South Africa.

The email reads:

From: Roger Saner
Date: 31 May 2009 11:52:28 AM
To: Greg Hill
Subject: Pricing for MacBooks, StopGrey.co.za and Core’s strategy to interact with Apple users

Hi Greg

I’ve been directed to you by Rene Firsing, who gets the contact emails sent to ZA Store via the website. I’m very confused about a few things, and she said that probably only a Core Executive could answer my questions.

My first question is about prices. Today’s Rand/Dollar exchange rate is 1$ = R7.94. You charge R24,000 for the 15 inch 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro ( http://www.zastore.co.za/macbookpro0810.php ) and it’s available from the Apple site for $1,999 ( http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro )

Using the above exchange rate, $1,999 = R15,869.16. That’s a difference of R8130.84 which is 51% markup. Do you apply 51% markup to all of your products?

My second question is about Stop Grey.co.za, a website which makes no definite claims, but makes lots of hints – and uses a fair amount of scare tactics – as to what will happen to someone if they buy a grey Apple import. Do you hope that people will be convinced to buy from Core, even when they are so much more expensive than grey imports?

Core is widely perceived as a command-and-control old-style organisation who doesn’t understand that who you are is more important that what you sell. My final question is this: what is your strategy to start and continue an online conversation with Apple users in South Africa, so that you can continue upholding the good reputation Apple has, while at the same time repairing the damage Core is doing to the Apple brand?

Regards
Roger

 
[Update: No response yet. Resent to Greg on 7 June 2009.]
[Update: 702 ran a piece this morning on Cool Apple Buddies in Sandton. While nothing to do with Core, it's all Apple, and since Core claim to be the official Apple people in South Africa, it would be prudent for them to response. I resent this open letter to Greg today, 15 June 2009.]
[Update: resent 22 June 2009. Have confirmed with Core that Greg is indeed the person to send this email to, and that I have his correct address. Greg must be really busy.]
[Update: resent 1 July 2009. Deafening silence.]
[Update: resent 16 July 2009.]

Comments(82)

I’m currently at the Net Prophet conference listening to some fine minds reaching into the future of the connected sphere in South Africa over the next 10 years. Since so many people here are familiar with e-commerce, I’m posing a question to the dev AND marketing minds here.

I’ve developed a few e-commerce websites for South African clients, and each time I go through the same process with them. To get to the point where it’s possible to sell products online, you need:

• A business plan to show to a bank where you will
• apply for a merchant account.

This means you’re paying something around R200 a month so that you can accept credit card payments…AND per-transaction fees of around 5-8%. Not that you’ve accepted any payments yet, but you have the capability. Then you need a payment gateway, which you’ll typically pay around R100 a month for, and you’ll also pay a per-transaction fee, either a set fee or a percentage.

Once all this is done, it’s time to set up a website with a shopping cart, and start selling. The costs look like this:

• R200/month for the merchant account, plus 5-8% transaction fee.
• R100/month for a payment gateway, plus per-transaction fees.
• Monthly website hosting fees, say around R100/month.

Total monthly costs: R400 plus per-transaction fees.

So before we even get to the website design and development costs, we’re looking at R400/month. Obviously people moving small volumes of product can’t spend R400 a month to do this, which is why most SME’s don’t have e-commerce sites.

A great solution is to have PayPal active in South Africa, but they’re not going to do that any time soon, or probably ever. Since I’m a drupal developer, I posted a thread on groups.drupal.org (which has grown quite a lot) to ask what payment gateways people use, and pretty much heard the same story.

So, 2 questions:

• Is getting a merchant account the only way of accepting credit card payments online, if you’re a South African?
• If so, is there an easier and more cost-effective way of doing this>

Comments(12)

After chatting with Max_headroom on irc I decided to organise a drupal meetup in Cape Town. Adrian Rossouw will be demoing Aegir (a hosting system for drupal) – and many Capetonian drupallers – and those who’ve only recently heard about drupal – will be there. We are meeting at 1pm this Saturday (May 2nd) at Wembley Square (map) and you can sign up here: http://groups.drupal.org/node/21581

See you there!

Comments(0)

There’s a big fire on Table Mountain tonight.

Here’s the first pic (click for larger version), taken at about 10:45pm.

35 minutes later:

The Cape Town city bowl is to the right, Groote Schuur hospital is the purple light in front of the fire (all these photos are taken from where I live in Observatory):

geekrebel tweets: “Oh sack! Fire is 3 blocks up! We’re evacuating our house now! Now… about a hotel where we can take dog…”

Comments(1)

Incredible Connection have been playing in the Apple space for a while now, and they have a great deal: new Macbooks are R1500 cheaper than those being sold anywhere else in South Africa.

You just need to bring down some old hardware – any old hardware! – for a trade-in. They’re repairing those computers and donating them to schools and charity – brilliant!

So why is ZA Store so expensive? That’s the question which has been asked for many years by Apple lovers in South Africa. Not only do we pay more here but we get worse service – and no recourse. I couldn’t resist writing this email:

From: roger [at] macgeek dot co dot za
Date: 05 Feb 2009 12:55:04 PM
To: enquire [at] zastore.co.za
Subject: MacBook prices

Hi ZA Store

There is a perception amongst Apple users in South Africa that they are sold computers at vastly inflated prices. For instance, a new Macbook is being sold in the States for $999 – which is about R10,000. You are selling it for R12,999 – R3000 more! Incredible Connection is running a special right now – http://www.incredibleblog.co.za/ic-news/trade-in-your-old-goods-for-new-upgrades-during-february/ – where MacBooks are being sold at R11,500 – which seems a lot more reasonable considering import duties are 15-20%.

Can you explain why you are so much more expensive?

Regards
Roger

 
[Update] Resent, April 23rd:

From: Roger Saner
Date: 23 Apr 2009 9:31:39 AM
To: enquire@zastore.co.za
Subject: Fwd: MacBook prices

Hi ZA Store

Does anybody read these emails?

I sent you an email back in February asking why you are so expensive. I also emailed you through stopgrey.co.za, a website which makes no definite claims, but makes lots of hints – and a fair amount of scare tactics – as to what will happen to you if you buy a grey Apple import.

What hoops do I have to jump through to get a response from you?

Regards
Roger

[Update] 2nd email sent, April 23rd

From: Roger Saner
Date: 23 Apr 2009 9:50:22 AM
To: enquire@zastore.co.za
Subject: Fwd: MacBook prices

Hi ZA Store

To rephrase my question in my first email, sent Feb 5th (included below), which you didn’t reply to:

The current Rand/Dollar exchange rate is R8.88 = $1.

You charge R24,000 for the 15 inch 2.4 GHz MacBook Pro ( http://www.zastore.co.za/macbookpro0810.php ) and it’s available from the Apple site for $1,999 ( http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro )

Using the above exchange rate, $1,999 = R17,742.72. That’s a difference R6,257.28 which is 35% markup. Do you apply 35% markup to all of your products?

Regards
Roger

 
A reply! Hooray!
From: Rene Firsing
Date: 23 Apr 2009 12:15:34 PM
To: Roger Saner
Subject: Re: MacBook prices

Hi Roger,

I do get these mails, and unfortunately do not deal with pricing, so was unable to answer you.
I have no idea with regards to what the costs are for importing technical equipment and therefore would like to ask you to chat to one of our Executives who may be able to assist with the pricing issue.

He will also be able to assist with the grey products website, as unfortunately I do not get any mails from that site.

His name is Greg Hill
087 940 3000

Thanks so much,
Rene
ZA Store

 
I’ve emailed Core with the above questions.
The contents to my email to Greg Hill are at http://www.macgeek.co.za/2009/05/31/open-letter-to-core/

Technorati Tags: Apple, Core, Incredible Connection, Macbook

Comments(15)

I’ve got more spam in the last 2 days asking me to sign up with “Business Solutions Africa”. Michael Faust has his name at the bottom of these emails, and the link in them sends me to http://www.africa-marketing.com/. I didn’t ask for this email, so that makes it unsolicited. Unsolicited email = spam.

The problem is, there’s very little we can do about spam. I’ve replied to Michael (usually a VERY BAD IDEA to reply to spam) and asked him to stop sending unsolicited emails, but aside from that (and blogging about his site, which hopefully shows up if people google him and his company) there’s nothing I can do to stop him.

The problem with Business Solutions Africa is that they’re an internet marketing company who promise on their front page that “Internet Advertising works!” I would *never* use an internet marketing company who spams – that goes against everything that is good and true and right in the world. It’s like asking Brett Lee to open the bowling for South Africa. No.

Google replied to _enzo today with an automated message from the gmail abuse team: “What happens when you report abuse? We track spammers and inflict horrible tentacle rape on them.”

If only.

Comments(5)