best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought\
I wish our BB had a better selection, they have a MacBook and that's it. When I was shopping for my iMac I went in, guy didn't know much about the Macs but did call another associate to know more and helped out some. With no Apple store for 4+ hours away my best hope is for BB to ramp up the local store.
best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought\
Hi, to translate a little for this gentleman/lady...
Kasper and others, it is important to note that Best Buy is now operating in the UK. They own 50% of Carphone Warehouse, which will be one of three major retail chains selling the iPhone 3G in the UK: Apple Stores UK, O2 and Carphone Warehouse.
All are ready to launch the iPhone 3G in the UK on July 11, with O2 and Carphone Warehouse prepared with existing "wooden stylish benches" in generally prominent locations, as from the previous iPhone retail space allocation.
Carphone Warehouse has laptops, broadband and mobile phones. Some concept stores have a range of iPods as well as Apple TV.
Outside of the US, in the UK, Best Buy/Carphone Warehouse has the potential to be *the* biggest Apple, Inc. reseller in the UK.
The challenge remains though as many have mentioned, that Best Buy will continue to push large volumes of sales, particularly outside the US, of non-Apple items simply because that's where they get the volume.
Apple still needs to educate a large, massive workforce to buy into other retail networks moving large amount of Apple products. But this may not be what is best for Apple right now.
We used to have a CompUSA store in Greensboro, NC. .. What a great day when I learned that Best Buy in Winston-Salem, NC was putting in an Apple kiosk. Thankfully Mike wound up being shifted from the closed CompUSA to the Best Buy store....Enough pumping up Mike and Apple.
Exactly my experience here in Denver. Only, his name is Mark.
best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought\
To translate. Carphone Warehouse has attempted a much larger retail and business presence in their hopes to expand beyond just selling mobile phones.
They attempted to do this by buying out Tandy, and they also bought AOL in the UK. Not sure how this went.
Overall though their strategy is moving to not only mobile, but also mobile and fixed-line broadband reselling. The main Apple product is the iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G. They sell laptops as bundled "free" with broadband services.
As the poster suggested, Carphone is now 50% owned by Best Buy, this merger has been approved by the "UK Dept Of Justice", it is just pending shareholder approval.
What it means though, is that amongst the other competition, Carphone is now going to go big into consumer electronics via Best Buy.
Best Buy will be opening stores in the UK and Europe in 2009. Not sure at this stage whether this will be branded as Best Buy or co-branded with Carphone Warehouse.
As some have mentioned, for some reason, outside of Apple official retail, very very few companies and stores have managed to achieve that essence of what technology retail should be. Perhaps Best Buy is closest, hence Apple's ongoing relationship.
With a much smaller presence in Europe and around the world, Apple may very well depend on Best Buy/ Carphone to expand further into Europe. As in Apple Stores are "first-tier" total Apple, with Best Buy/ Carphone being the "meat", with iPod, iPhone, and soon, Macs. Hopefully.
Globally, Apple is now going to have to play ball with telecom companies being the premier touchpoint for global consumers/prosumers/business users to the iPhone brand.
The store-within-a-store is quite a complicated issue for Apple globally because, let's face it, Apple Retail is totally different from many other retail operations. Those under the old "AppleCenter" or Apple Authorized, Apple Premium Reseller programs will tell you how painful it can sometimes be dealing with Apple official.
With the iPhone and iPod, things have changed remarkably because so many people are selling it.
However. With the iPhone 3G and Mac Touch(?) moving Apple towards that "third leg", or "new mobility lifestyle platform", everyone has to face the facts. Apple resellers, are going to keep growing, and growing. How much control will/can Apple have over its brands and products? For example, the iPhone unlocking extravaganza around the world.
The Best Buy kiosk is great for established Mac users. You can walk in and pick up what you want with lightning fast speed. But, it's terrible if you're not sure what you want. Nobody's going to help you decide at my Best Buy. And I think it's downright counterproductive for getting people to switch from PC. When I was thinking about switching, the Best Buy kiosk just frustrated me. I ended up going to the Apple Store to have my questions answered before I switched.
I recently visited a Best Buy on a gift certificate. What a joke of a store. I consistently saw prices 20% and greater above those of competing retailers, let alone warehouse sellers via the web.
The only area worth looking at happened to be the mac section.
Unfortunately, they don't have much installed on these machines, and without the "mac guy" the staff was mentally stunted on the basics.
I would totally go for that! Costco here did have some non-Intel macs for a short while. I was hopefully they would keep carrying them, sadly once they were gone that was all.
Great, more stuff for the BB flunkies to not sell. I work in a local Mac shop. There are three BBs in the area. Not one of them has a good Mac guy. I've seen many Macs come in for service that BB either didn't fix, did something completely unnecessary, or just screwed up. They don't have certified techs and they don't do Applecare. I've heard some real doozies, like some retard telling a lady that they didn't have any Mac compatible external hard drives, or some idiot telling a guy that iLife 08 will run on any Mac with Tiger, and then he sold the guy a Tiger family pack for his ONE computer. This isn't going to help much of anything unless Apple ensures that WorstBuy has some people who aren't imbeciles manning the floor.
Thanks for the feedback. Apple reps read these forums so it would be beneficial to the cause if other readers post their recent experiences at Best Buy stores that sell Macs.
Best,
Kasper
I live in a very small town as well and the nearest Apple Store is 2 hours away.
We feel lucky to have a Best Buy.
I went in to Best Buy and saw an iMac. Regardless of my screen name I manage many artists that love their macs and am VERY familiar with the Mac Operating System.
I went to the iMac and launched Safari and realized it had no internet access. I asked one of the people working there why the wireless network wasn't set up (All of their other PC's were).
She said they just got it in a couple days ago and didn't know how to work the wireless yet.
I was dumbfounded and offered to do it. She said they we're waiting for tech support to help them out (so much for The Geek Squad) and couldn't allow me access. They would have it fixed in a couple days.
That's like putting a plumber in a florist shop to sell flowers. Leopard is very different than either XP or Vista and they had no experienced operators.
I would totally go for that! Costco here did have some non-Intel macs for a short while. I was hopefully they would keep carrying them, sadly once they were gone that was all.
I've found the clerks at Costco to be very anti-Mac.
I was looking at an iMac G5 there, and the clerk walked up to be and began to relate horror stories of Macs being so difficult to use. I let him go on for a few minutes, laughed at him, and walked off, knowing better. Had I not been a Mac user though, his speech most certainly would have turned me off to the platform.
I live in a region of the Gulf Coast where the nearest Apple store is at least three hours away, so the Best Buy mini-store is a great option. That being said, I have visited Apple stores recently in my travels, and the big difference I've noticed at Best Buy is the lack of the cohesive Apple feel in the stores. In our local Best Buy, the computers are at the Apple kiosk, but the iPods and iPhones are each in different sections of the store, on the other side of the store no less! I recently purchased a MacBook and iPod for my wife at an Apple store, and was quite impressed with the rep's ability to demonstrate benefits and relationships between the devices, and Apple's web services.
In my opinion, Apple needs to build the same type of representation in the Best Buy stores or their products are commoditized -- they will compete with other computers on grounds of RAM, CPU cycles and cost. Apple has benefitted greatly by building brand loyalty (I'm not sure, I think it's a cult now. Are there any Apple compounds in Texas that I'm not aware of?), but this hasn't been developed in our Best Buy location. Other posts seem to reflect the same impression.
As a last thought, a skilled rep who can demonstrate the user experience without preaching "gigs of RAM" will make more sales for Apple. People tend to buy the experience, not just the product.
The Best Buy kiosk is great for established Mac users. You can walk in and pick up what you want with lightning fast speed. But, it's terrible if you're not sure what you want. Nobody's going to help you decide at my Best Buy. And I think it's downright counterproductive for getting people to switch from PC. When I was thinking about switching, the Best Buy kiosk just frustrated me. I ended up going to the Apple Store to have my questions answered before I switched.
My experience seems to run with the minority. I went to BB in Riverdale, UT, found a very strategically placed and attractive Apple Mini Store (in front of all the rest of the computer gear) and observed a BB employee (basically dedicated to work in the Mac section) working with a prospective buyer. He totally knew his stuff, explained the pros and cons of iWork v Office depending on the user's need to interact seamlessly in a Windows world or not, and even cogently explained virtualization. He even demonstrated a feature I didn't know after four years post-switch.
The only place he flubbed was in not really answering the man's question about why the iBook cost so much more than the run-of-the-mill Dellways and HPaqs --mostly missing the litany of actual and party-line answers everyone reading this thread can recite backwards. Overall, though, he was at least as informed as the average Apple Store employees I've observed in about 8 Apple stores around the country.
I spoke to him afterwards and he said he'd finished a rigorous Apple-run training program, with ongoing booster shots. And then he told me about a Best Buy exclusive feature I haven't seen reported in any of the articles about the AI/BB partnership: a special GeekSquad warranty superceding AppleCare and including onsite visits and other goodies in the price (I forget if it was more $$, and if it integrated Apple Care/Geek Squad, or was totally a BB product). Maybe someone else reading knows??
By contrast I had numerous opportunities to observe the treatment given to Macs at the deservedly defunct CompUSA. Placement in the far corner of the store, no employees ever anywhere in sight, and dusty, even dirty display machines and boxed components.
My experience seems to run with the minority. I went to BB in Riverdale, UT, found a very strategically placed and attractive Apple Mini Store (in front of all the rest of the computer gear) and observed a BB employee (basically dedicated to work in the Mac section) working with a prospective buyer. He totally knew his stuff, explained the pros and cons of iWork v Office depending on the user's need to interact seamlessly in a Windows world or not, and even cogently explained virtualization. He even demonstrated a feature I didn't know after four years post-switch.
The only place he flubbed was in not really answering the man's question about why the iBook cost so much more than the run-of-the-mill Dellways and HPaqs --mostly missing the litany of actual and party-line answers everyone reading this thread can recite backwards. Overall, though, he was at least as informed as the average Apple Store employees I've observed in about 8 Apple stores around the country.
I spoke to him afterwards and he said he'd finished a rigorous Apple-run training program, with ongoing booster shots. And then he told me about a Best Buy exclusive feature I haven't seen reported in any of the articles about the AI/BB partnership: a special GeekSquad warranty superceding AppleCare and including onsite visits and other goodies in the price (I forget if it was more $$, and if it integrated Apple Care/Geek Squad, or was totally a BB product). Maybe someone else reading knows??
By contrast I had numerous opportunities to observe the treatment given to Macs at the deservedly defunct CompUSA. Placement in the far corner of the store, no employees ever anywhere in sight, and dusty, even dirty display machines and boxed components.
Night and day, simply put.
That Best Buy warranty costs $80 more than AppleCare, and $130 more if you qualify for the edu discount. I have zero faith in the Geek Squad working on my Mac.
Best Buy charges shipping, Apple does not, if you spend $50 or more. Best Buy charges $69 additional for a wireless mouse, and Apple charges $50 for the wireless mouse AND a wireless keyboard.
I was just at Best Buy last night, and I checked out the Apple kiosk. They still don't really sell any Mac software. They do sell CrossOver and Parallels, so perhaps they figure you'll use those products to run the Windows software they actually do sell in the store.
The Mac software I saw for sale at the Apple display (there was, in fact, a sign that said "Mac Software" above the cables, media, and other assorted junk):
Photoshop Elements
PrintShop Pro
Parallels
CrossOver
Mac OS X Leopard
Previously I've seen Microsoft Office and (possibly) iLife or iWork for sale as well, but I didn't notice them yesterday.
Comments
best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought
Don't they have punctuation in the UK?
best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought
Hi, to translate a little for this gentleman/lady...
Kasper and others, it is important to note that Best Buy is now operating in the UK. They own 50% of Carphone Warehouse, which will be one of three major retail chains selling the iPhone 3G in the UK: Apple Stores UK, O2 and Carphone Warehouse.
All are ready to launch the iPhone 3G in the UK on July 11, with O2 and Carphone Warehouse prepared with existing "wooden stylish benches" in generally prominent locations, as from the previous iPhone retail space allocation.
Carphone Warehouse has laptops, broadband and mobile phones. Some concept stores have a range of iPods as well as Apple TV.
Outside of the US, in the UK, Best Buy/Carphone Warehouse has the potential to be *the* biggest Apple, Inc. reseller in the UK.
Apple still needs to educate a large, massive workforce to buy into other retail networks moving large amount of Apple products. But this may not be what is best for Apple right now.
We used to have a CompUSA store in Greensboro, NC. .. What a great day when I learned that Best Buy in Winston-Salem, NC was putting in an Apple kiosk. Thankfully Mike wound up being shifted from the closed CompUSA to the Best Buy store....Enough pumping up Mike and Apple.
Exactly my experience here in Denver. Only, his name is Mark.
Don't they have punctuation in the UK?
best buy have bought a large share in the uk mobile phone company carphone warehouse which bought out tandy in the uk some years ago apple put a mini store in tesco as a tester but never followed it up perhaps this could be move to open up mini stores at the cw thay also bought aol in the uk so the have everything what could be needed plus they sell the iphone just a thought
To translate. Carphone Warehouse has attempted a much larger retail and business presence in their hopes to expand beyond just selling mobile phones.
They attempted to do this by buying out Tandy, and they also bought AOL in the UK. Not sure how this went.
Overall though their strategy is moving to not only mobile, but also mobile and fixed-line broadband reselling. The main Apple product is the iPhone 2G and iPhone 3G. They sell laptops as bundled "free" with broadband services.
As the poster suggested, Carphone is now 50% owned by Best Buy, this merger has been approved by the "UK Dept Of Justice", it is just pending shareholder approval.
What it means though, is that amongst the other competition, Carphone is now going to go big into consumer electronics via Best Buy.
http://library.corporate-ir.net/libr...ad-Only%5D.pdf
Best Buy will be opening stores in the UK and Europe in 2009. Not sure at this stage whether this will be branded as Best Buy or co-branded with Carphone Warehouse.
As some have mentioned, for some reason, outside of Apple official retail, very very few companies and stores have managed to achieve that essence of what technology retail should be. Perhaps Best Buy is closest, hence Apple's ongoing relationship.
With a much smaller presence in Europe and around the world, Apple may very well depend on Best Buy/ Carphone to expand further into Europe. As in Apple Stores are "first-tier" total Apple, with Best Buy/ Carphone being the "meat", with iPod, iPhone, and soon, Macs. Hopefully.
Globally, Apple is now going to have to play ball with telecom companies being the premier touchpoint for global consumers/prosumers/business users to the iPhone brand.
The store-within-a-store is quite a complicated issue for Apple globally because, let's face it, Apple Retail is totally different from many other retail operations. Those under the old "AppleCenter" or Apple Authorized, Apple Premium Reseller programs will tell you how painful it can sometimes be dealing with Apple official.
With the iPhone and iPod, things have changed remarkably because so many people are selling it.
However. With the iPhone 3G and Mac Touch(?) moving Apple towards that "third leg", or "new mobility lifestyle platform", everyone has to face the facts. Apple resellers, are going to keep growing, and growing. How much control will/can Apple have over its brands and products? For example, the iPhone unlocking extravaganza around the world.
The only area worth looking at happened to be the mac section.
Unfortunately, they don't have much installed on these machines, and without the "mac guy" the staff was mentally stunted on the basics.
Apple should put a Mac Store within Costco.
Apple should put a Mac Store within Costco.
I would totally go for that! Costco here did have some non-Intel macs for a short while. I was hopefully they would keep carrying them, sadly once they were gone that was all.
Thanks for the feedback. Apple reps read these forums so it would be beneficial to the cause if other readers post their recent experiences at Best Buy stores that sell Macs.
Best,
Kasper
I live in a very small town as well and the nearest Apple Store is 2 hours away.
We feel lucky to have a Best Buy.
I went in to Best Buy and saw an iMac. Regardless of my screen name I manage many artists that love their macs and am VERY familiar with the Mac Operating System.
I went to the iMac and launched Safari and realized it had no internet access. I asked one of the people working there why the wireless network wasn't set up (All of their other PC's were).
She said they just got it in a couple days ago and didn't know how to work the wireless yet.
I was dumbfounded and offered to do it. She said they we're waiting for tech support to help them out (so much for The Geek Squad) and couldn't allow me access. They would have it fixed in a couple days.
That's like putting a plumber in a florist shop to sell flowers. Leopard is very different than either XP or Vista and they had no experienced operators.
Exactly my experience here in Denver. Only, his name is Mark.
Same here in Greenville, SC. Hey Bobby!
I would totally go for that! Costco here did have some non-Intel macs for a short while. I was hopefully they would keep carrying them, sadly once they were gone that was all.
I've found the clerks at Costco to be very anti-Mac.
I was looking at an iMac G5 there, and the clerk walked up to be and began to relate horror stories of Macs being so difficult to use. I let him go on for a few minutes, laughed at him, and walked off, knowing better. Had I not been a Mac user though, his speech most certainly would have turned me off to the platform.
In my opinion, Apple needs to build the same type of representation in the Best Buy stores or their products are commoditized -- they will compete with other computers on grounds of RAM, CPU cycles and cost. Apple has benefitted greatly by building brand loyalty (I'm not sure, I think it's a cult now. Are there any Apple compounds in Texas that I'm not aware of?), but this hasn't been developed in our Best Buy location. Other posts seem to reflect the same impression.
As a last thought, a skilled rep who can demonstrate the user experience without preaching "gigs of RAM" will make more sales for Apple. People tend to buy the experience, not just the product.
pete
The Best Buy kiosk is great for established Mac users. You can walk in and pick up what you want with lightning fast speed. But, it's terrible if you're not sure what you want. Nobody's going to help you decide at my Best Buy. And I think it's downright counterproductive for getting people to switch from PC. When I was thinking about switching, the Best Buy kiosk just frustrated me. I ended up going to the Apple Store to have my questions answered before I switched.
My experience seems to run with the minority. I went to BB in Riverdale, UT, found a very strategically placed and attractive Apple Mini Store (in front of all the rest of the computer gear) and observed a BB employee (basically dedicated to work in the Mac section) working with a prospective buyer. He totally knew his stuff, explained the pros and cons of iWork v Office depending on the user's need to interact seamlessly in a Windows world or not, and even cogently explained virtualization. He even demonstrated a feature I didn't know after four years post-switch.
The only place he flubbed was in not really answering the man's question about why the iBook cost so much more than the run-of-the-mill Dellways and HPaqs --mostly missing the litany of actual and party-line answers everyone reading this thread can recite backwards. Overall, though, he was at least as informed as the average Apple Store employees I've observed in about 8 Apple stores around the country.
I spoke to him afterwards and he said he'd finished a rigorous Apple-run training program, with ongoing booster shots. And then he told me about a Best Buy exclusive feature I haven't seen reported in any of the articles about the AI/BB partnership: a special GeekSquad warranty superceding AppleCare and including onsite visits and other goodies in the price (I forget if it was more $$, and if it integrated Apple Care/Geek Squad, or was totally a BB product). Maybe someone else reading knows??
By contrast I had numerous opportunities to observe the treatment given to Macs at the deservedly defunct CompUSA. Placement in the far corner of the store, no employees ever anywhere in sight, and dusty, even dirty display machines and boxed components.
Night and day, simply put.
My experience seems to run with the minority. I went to BB in Riverdale, UT, found a very strategically placed and attractive Apple Mini Store (in front of all the rest of the computer gear) and observed a BB employee (basically dedicated to work in the Mac section) working with a prospective buyer. He totally knew his stuff, explained the pros and cons of iWork v Office depending on the user's need to interact seamlessly in a Windows world or not, and even cogently explained virtualization. He even demonstrated a feature I didn't know after four years post-switch.
The only place he flubbed was in not really answering the man's question about why the iBook cost so much more than the run-of-the-mill Dellways and HPaqs --mostly missing the litany of actual and party-line answers everyone reading this thread can recite backwards. Overall, though, he was at least as informed as the average Apple Store employees I've observed in about 8 Apple stores around the country.
I spoke to him afterwards and he said he'd finished a rigorous Apple-run training program, with ongoing booster shots. And then he told me about a Best Buy exclusive feature I haven't seen reported in any of the articles about the AI/BB partnership: a special GeekSquad warranty superceding AppleCare and including onsite visits and other goodies in the price (I forget if it was more $$, and if it integrated Apple Care/Geek Squad, or was totally a BB product). Maybe someone else reading knows??
By contrast I had numerous opportunities to observe the treatment given to Macs at the deservedly defunct CompUSA. Placement in the far corner of the store, no employees ever anywhere in sight, and dusty, even dirty display machines and boxed components.
Night and day, simply put.
That Best Buy warranty costs $80 more than AppleCare, and $130 more if you qualify for the edu discount. I have zero faith in the Geek Squad working on my Mac.
Best Buy charges shipping, Apple does not, if you spend $50 or more. Best Buy charges $69 additional for a wireless mouse, and Apple charges $50 for the wireless mouse AND a wireless keyboard.
Screw Best Buy!
The Mac software I saw for sale at the Apple display (there was, in fact, a sign that said "Mac Software" above the cables, media, and other assorted junk):
Photoshop Elements
PrintShop Pro
Parallels
CrossOver
Mac OS X Leopard
Previously I've seen Microsoft Office and (possibly) iLife or iWork for sale as well, but I didn't notice them yesterday.
Is this really a successful program?