According to the french Mac-centric site MacGeneration.com [1], Pascal Cagni, Apple Europe's VP, has sent a letter to European Apple resellers to inform them of the forthcoming changes in their contract with Apple.

The Apple reseller contract that will be applied by this summer in Europe will bring some dramatic changes. The most important among these changes is the fact that Apple resellers, which are currently running under the brand “Apple Center", will now be qualified as “Premium Reseller" instead. By the way, resellers won't be allowed to use the brands “Apple" and “Mac" in their name.

Another major change is the obligation of resellers to train their employees under Apple's Certificates program. This training program implies costs for the reseller.

Pascal Cagni also expressed in his letter, the desire of Apple that its resellers network differentiates in terms of design from Apple stores and that Apple will be encouraging common marketing campaigns between Apple and its resellers network.

The report also confirms Apple's plans to open stores in France, starting this year with a first store in Paris - Opera, another in Lyon and another in Lille. The long expected Paris, Champs-Elysés store will open in 2007.

Apple has already applied similar reseller contract policy in the USA and Canada. Now it looks like the company is paving the way for its own European stores.

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