Ingram Micro Picked to Distribute for Apple

Ingram Micro Inc., striking its second big distribution deal in a month, said Tuesday that it has been selected to distribute Apple Computer Inc. products.

But Ingram’s archrival, Merisel Inc., also got a piece of the action. Apple, a Cupertino computer maker, selected both Ingram Micro and Merisel, based in El Segundo, to distribute its full line of products, company officials said.

The Apple agreement--together with a distribution deal Ingram announced three weeks ago involving two personal computers manufactured by International Business Machines Corp.--could boost Ingram Micro’s sales by 10%, or $200 million a year, said David R. Dukes, president.

Ingram Micro, a Santa Ana-based subsidiary of privately held Ingram Industries Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., reported sales of $2 billion in 1991. Merisel has annual sales of $1.6 billion.

Announced after several weeks of competitive bidding, the deals represent victories for the two biggest players in computer distribution, who together control an estimated 50% of the market. Behind IBM and Compaq Computer Corp., Apple was the last major computer maker to decide to tap the distribution market.

“This recognizes distribution as a viable and important part of the way business is being done in the computer industry today,” Dukes said.

That recognition could also help distributors by expanding their sales of related products, such as Macintosh software, and lead to more orders from value-added resellers--or dealers that package computers with custom software, said Linda Kroog, Merisel’s vice president of products.

“That can be more important than sales of computer systems,” she said.

In the past, major PC makers sold their computers through networks of authorized dealers who had been trained to provide expert support.

Distributors were viewed as unnecessary middlemen who reduced the manufacturer’s control over the retailers who sold directly to the public and provided repair service and training.