With almost 22 percent of its current installed base in Europe, Apple has a program in Europe entitled ” Top 50 ” and implemented through the Apple Developer Connection.
The purpose of the program, in Apple’s words, is to “ensure every developer worldwide, with best of class products for the Macintosh, has access” to its European customers. Participation in this program is exclusive to ADC Premier and Select members.
The Top 50 program allows developer products to be placed in select retail stores in a Mac-branded area. It provides the retailer a “one stop shop” to fulfill their order requirements, manage stock returns, implement pricing actions (when authorized by the developer), and oversee reviews and return issues, according to Apple.
ADC Premier and Select developers have an opportunity to be included in this program in the following segments: edutainment, games, productivity, utilities, small business and professional. The applications will be targeted at consumers in retail and, therefore, should have a street price of between US$20 and $250. In addition, the products must be localized for France and Germany to participate in the Top50 program.
The Top 50 Program is being implemented in conjunction with Softline Distribution Group. The plan is to achieve a presence for this program in 700 retail storefronts by Apple Expo Europe (Sept. 26-30). The program currently covers 11 different countries in Europe (UK, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Eire and Belgium), and should rollout to over 1,000 storefronts by the end of the year.
“We are partnering with Apple to assist third party developers establish a presence in Europe and provide users with better point of purchase opportunities, Kevin Doorley, CEO/managing editor of Softline, told MacCentral.
For more info go to the “Top 50” Web site. The ADC Select membership (US $500 per year) includes ongoing access to the ADC Seeding Program, incidents of technical support, a monthly mailing including the Developer CD Series and more. The ADC Premier membership (US$3500 per year) includes ongoing access to the ADC Seeding Program, incidents of Technical Support, discounts on Macintosh hardware, a monthly mailing including the Developer CD Series, and more. More info can be found at the ADC registration Web site.
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