Mac OS 9 sales off to brisk start
The launch of Mac OS 9 drew users across the country to their local Mac dealers last weekend and offered resellers and Apple representatives an opportunity to show off iMacs, iBooks and other new Mac hardware.
Mac retail outlets told MacWEEK their OS sales were brisk throughout the weekend.
Wayne Coco, assistant store manager at the Salem, N.H., headquarters of Computer Town, said the weekend went very well. "We sold 80 copies of Mac OS 9 at the Salem store," Coco said, adding that a user-group volunteer demonstrated the OS to shoppers.
Coco said he thought shoppers showed as much -- if not more -- interest in Apple's hardware as its software. The Salem store has received new iMacs with DV, with the highest number of people interested in the Special Edition model compared with the other two, Coco said.
Huge number of orders
A large shipment of Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) hardware due Tuesday night at the Salem store should clear up the outlet's back orders for iBooks, he said. "We haven't seen any orange iBooks yet, but there are quite a few blue ones coming in," Coco said. The store also has a lot of orders of G4 desktop systems, he added.
Micro Center, a chain of computer stores headquartered in Hilliard, Ohio, is also getting a lot of orders for Apple products and is scrambling to meet demand.
Nate Closson, manager of the Mac department and general sales for the Denver Micro Center store, said the weekend was great, with a "huge crowd" of customers. "We sold 40 copies of Mac OS 9 over the weekend and four or five PowerBooks," Closson said, adding that a Demo Days worker displayed Mac OS 9 to shoppers.
Although low-end iMacs have yet to arrive there, the Denver store received 15 new iMac DV and five iMac DV Special Edition models and all were sold the same day, Closson said Tuesday.
In addition, the Denver store is expecting a shipment of iBooks on Thursday, Closson said. The outlet has received only three of the 66 iBooks it ordered; Apple sent 66 to be divided among all 16 Micro Center locations, Closson said.
Meanwhile, Sears shoppers may have mixed experiences finding Apple hardware.
A salesman at the Columbia, S.C., Sears store said Tuesday the previous model of the iMac is in stock and selling for about $800, with the new iMac models expected in a few weeks. The store has Blueberry iBooks in stock for $1,600, with Tangerine available only via special order.
Although the Columbia store sells an external Zip drive and other Mac-compatible hardware, it does not carry Apple software such as Mac OS 9, the salesman added.