Geektastic: Sure. Lots of people prefer looking for drivers, BSOD and so on. I get that.

Yeah Windows 98 is a bit like that.

antonknee:

 

Renaissance lost exclusivity a long, long time ago and Ingram Micro started distributing as well. Then Renaissance more or less went bust, and their disty operations were picked up by Exeed. Exeed and Ingram Micro are the current distributors in NZ, although some retailers have a direct relationship with Apple.

 

From Apple's perspective, they have a strong Authorised Distributor and Authorised Reseller network in this country (including some Apple Shops which is their shop in shop program) and an online store that generally delivers next day, as well as a network of Authorised Service Providers - so what's the point of bringing Apple Retail to our small market? Probably don't forget we're a small market and relatively poor compared to others.

 

Noel Leeming alone own a massive share of Apple's presence in this country.

 

I thought all retailers were distributed to by Exeed/Ingram Micro?

But I'd like to see a few retailers offer products that you can only purchase from the website including Apple watch bands.

NPCtom:

 

New Zealand is an extremely unattractive market for Apple to be in. They made just 22 million NZD in profit during the year of 2018, an incredibly small number for a company with a market value of 2 trillion USD. 

 

Imagine the cost of importing the raw materials to build a store here; the long wooden tables, glass staircases etc.

 

It just wouldn't work and we'll most likely never see a store here in New Zealand. It's also why we can't get accessories including Homepod & Edition Apple Watches.

 

Apple has ~250B USD overseas(outside the US) because they use tax shelters like any other large tech company, iPhone etc margins are close to 50% at launch so any country is extremely profitable for them to be in. Eventually Apple/Microsoft/Google/Amazon will reach a tax deal with the US Gov to bring that cash home, they are lobbying hard to pay a one time fee of 15.5% vs the ~38% anyone else would pay for overseas profits in their situation. 

Microsoft got up to similar tricks