Dell Computer Corp. is among several companies that have re-signed retail contracts to sell Apple Computer Inc.’s products, sources close to the negotiations confirmed for MacCentral on Wednesday.
Citing disagreements with Apple about the new reseller agreement, Dell last week stopped selling Apple’s iPod MP3 player. Dell representatives would not outline specific details about the agreement that led Dell to make its decision, but at the time the company had already pulled all iPod SKUs from their system.
Apple downplayed the importance of unsigned reseller agreements saying, “resellers that have not currently renewed made up less than 1.5 percent of Apple’s worldwide revenue in 2002.” Even such a small percentage in worldwide revenue would mean tens of millions of dollars that would be lost for Apple if the contracts were not renewed.
An Apple representative would not confirm any specific companies that had re-signed, but did say that contracts are continually being renewed by resellers.
Apple representatives also said that resellers that have not currently renewed their contracts now account for approximately 0.3 percent of Apple’s worldwide revenue in 2002.
Dell is among three companies that have re-signed agreements with Apple, joining Fry’s and Micro Center.