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Best Buy official on iPhone 3G...Radio shack next

Tue, 08/12/2008 - 19:29 — Cleve Nettles
69

Remember when we told you (OK BGR told us to tell you) that Radio Shack and Best Buy were getting the iPhone soon?  Guess what?  Best Buy announced today that they will be selling the iPhone come September 7 at almost 1000 locations throughout the US.  They will be the first 3rd party retailer to sell the iPhone (unless you count Carphone Warehouse in the UK and every corner bottle-o in some place called 'Australia').

Shawn Score, president of Best Buy's mobile division, says, "We think we'll have a good supply for our customers."

Analyst Wolf says he believes that Apple is catching up with demand. "Supply is coming on board."

Best Buy says it has a national exclusive on the iPhone (outside of Apple and AT&T stores) through Christmas. The retailer has Apple Macintosh sections at 600 of its stores.

Adding to in-store customer waiting time is a new, longer procedure to activate the iPhone that has made the buying process much longer.

Questions that arise:

 

  • Will Apple be able to meet this demand?  Aug 22 will double the footprint of countries with iPhones including India
  • Will there be trained Apple techs onsite to help?  Buying an iPod is kids play compared to registering an iPhone
  • Will this cheapen the iPhone experience?  When 1/3 of the US (Best Buy customers) has an iPhone, it doesn't feel quite as special does it?
  • Radio Shack...*ahem* got anything to say?
  • Anyone think Apple will have any trouble getting rid of 10 million iPhones this year?  How about 20 million?
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Comments

Will Apple be able to meet

Tue, 08/12/2008 - 19:43 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)
97

Will Apple be able to meet this demand?

Having the iPhone available at BB, but probably cannibalize sales at Apple and AT&T stores more than anything else. There are BB locations without a nearby Apple or AT&T corporate store for sure. There will also be casual phone buyers without a specific preference of phone who go to BB and realize that they really want an iPhone.

Umm... iPhone is available at

Tue, 08/12/2008 - 21:57 — 9to5Mac Noob (not verified)
84

Umm... iPhone is available at heaps of 3rd party stores in Australia. Its available at 4-5 shops in my local shopping center of 120 stores.

Cheapens the iPhone experience?

Wed, 08/13/2008 - 06:21 — S.F. (not verified)
57

What do you mean by cheapening the iPhone experience? Are we 12 years old again and are concerned with having toys that no other kid has? I got the original iPhone the first day and the 3G the first day as well. I could have cared less when I saw more and more people having them. If anything I was happy for them and glad that they didn't have a crappy cell phone anymore. Hopefully they'll detach from Windows and go Mac all the way too.