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Did Apple (AAPL) lose a big retail opportunity?

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Was Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) wrong not to offer its Mac across a broad range of retailers? Instead, the consumer electronics company has elected to sell the machine online and at its few Apple retail outlets.

In the meantime, market leader Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has long sold its PCs at retailers and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) has made deals with companies like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) an integral part of its turnaround.

The New York Times argues that Apple missed an opportunity. When Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Vista stumbled after its introduction due to bugs and reluctance of users to upgrade, Jobs & Co. should have sought the widest possible retail distribution for the Mac.

According to Roger L. Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, the Mac's worldwide market share was 3% as of June 2007. The Times also says that "based on the ratio of Windows and Macs actually in use, no gains can be seen for Apple." While Apple and some industry experts might dispute those figures, the Mac was not widely available at large numbers of retail locations.

Did Apple do the right thing? It might argue that part of its brand is the environment where it is sold. The company has complete control of how the machine is presented on its website. Employees at the ultra-clean Apple stores are experts on the Mac in a way that other retailers would find impossible to match. Apple may have been protecting the Mac brand by keeping it in the best hands.

What is true is that Apple still has only a small share of the market. Only so many people can get to an Apple store and not everyone will buy a computer online. So the company is fighting with one hand tied behind its back.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

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Last updated: July 05, 2009: 04:17 PM

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