Haddock Corporation is an American consumer electronics and information technology consulting business based in Wichita, Kansas, which operated four Haddock Computer Center retail locations in Kansas,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, and Iowa. Founded as a software company, Haddock has been an Apple-authorized dealer and

computer repair A computer repair technician is a person who repairs and maintains computers and servers. The technician's responsibilities may extend to include building or configuring new hardware, installing and updating software packages, and creating and ...

shop since 1984, the year the Macintosh

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

was released. Company founder and CEO Richard Haddock served on Apple's reseller advisory board for over ten years. He is a member and one of the founders of the

Apple Specialist Apple Authorized Service Providers are independent companies which are certified by Apple Inc., which carry out in-warranty or out-of-warranty repairs of Apple products as part of the company's AppleCare program. Apple provides them with tools, a ...

Marketing Corporation.

History

Richard Haddock founded the Haddock Corporation in 1977 as a way to establish the first of his Haddock Computer Center stores in Wichita, Kansas, the same year. A computer programmer by trade, Haddock was also active in software development. In 1978, he developed the application "Petroleum Accountant" for the Wichita oil company Parrish Corporation. The software operated on the

IBM 5110 The IBM 5110 Computing System is the successor of the IBM 5100 Portable Computer. The IBM 5110 was announced in January 1978 (a little over 2 years after the introduction of the IBM 5100). Its main differences were support for more I/O devices ( ...

IBM 5120 The IBM 5120 Computing System (sometimes referred to as the IBM 5110 Model 3) was announced in February 1980 as the desktop follow-on to the IBM 5110 Computing System. It featured two built-in 8-inch 1.2 MB floppy disk drives, 9-inch monochrome mo ...

, and

IBM System/23 The System/23 Datamaster (Model 5322 desktop model and Model 5324 floor model) was announced by IBM in July 1981. The Datamaster was the least expensive IBM computer until the far less expensive and far more popular IBM PC was announced in the fo ...

Datamaster, and was widely distributed. In 1979, Haddock's store began the stocking

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

, establishing a long-lived relationship with

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

that lasted until Haddock's Computer Center operations went defunct. In January 1984, Apple reached out to Haddock to convince him to sell the new Macintosh computer on its release. While the store had sold IBM PC compatibles occasionally in the years following, Haddock's stock of Apple products represented the bulk of their profit and earned the store a local reputation.. In 1987, a second Haddock Computer Center location opened up in Salina, Kansas. During

Gil Amelio Gilbert Frank Amelio (born March 1, 1943) is an American technology executive. Amelio worked at Bell Labs, Fairchild Semiconductor, and the semiconductor division of Rockwell International, and was also the CEO of National Semiconductor and Ap ...

's tenure as Apple CEO, Haddock and other retailers worked with Apple's Paddy Wong and Loretta Flores to develop the

program intended to strengthen Apple's retail channel. At its peak in 2005, Haddock had three Computer Center locations across three states: Wichita, Kansas, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Des Moines, Iowa. The company's Oklahoma City store was opened up at the behest of Apple in 2002; in 2004, it generated US$1 million in sales. . A Des Moines, Iowa, location followed in 2005. However, within the next three years a second independent Apple Specialist retailer opened up in Oklahoma City, and in 2005, Apple themselves raised an Apple Store there. Faced with too much competition, leading to a steep drop in projected sales for 2006 of just $250,000, Haddock was forced to shutter the Oklahoma location in May 2006. After his stepson David Pearson died of glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive cancer of the brain, at the age of 16, Haddock consolidated his Computer Center and LivingSound businesses into the parent Haddock Corporation and closed all locations. In his son's wake, he formed the Dragon Master Foundation, a nonprofit organization for the development of specific genome databases for cancer researchers.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.gohaddock.com Apple Specialists Defunct consumer electronics retailers in the United States Privately held companies based in Kansas

History

See also

References

External links