“Best Buy is prepared to expand a new Mac pilot program to additional retail stores if the concept proves to be successful, one Wall Street analyst says. The nations No. 1 consumer electronics chain last week began evaluating a new planogram layout that prominently displays Apple’s Mac line in a designated area of its personal computer department,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
“For the time being, the retailer is testing the program at just seven Best Buy locations in the Southern California region. Some 900+ remaining Best Buy outlets traditionally stock only Apple’s iPod digital music players, and to a lesser extent, Mac mini desktop computers,” McLean reports. “However, Best Buy has indicated that it is prepared to scale the Mac pilot program ‘rapidly’ if it proves to be a hit, according to Steve Lidberg and David Niederman, two analysts with Pacific Crest Securities.”
Full article here.
Apple Macs in Best Buy photos via CNET here.
MacDailyNews Take: Excellent. If some miracle happens with the Best Buy test stores, we look forward to 900+ locations where pimply-faced blue shirts can tell customers that “Apples are incompatible,” “too expensive,” “can’t run the internet” and “don’t have antivirus software” instead of just seven stores in SoCal.
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Best Buy mucks up MacBook photo on website; shows MacBook Pro instead – June 01, 2006
Best Buy now selling Apple MacBook Pro, MacBook, and iMac models – May 31, 2006
How about: “Yes mam, your son needs a Mac to run his iPod”.
BB Employee, “See, there’s no Blue ‘e’ on this weird Apple, so it obviously can’t surf the web. Nobody buys these things. Now, let’s get back into the Gateway aisle where we belong.”
My response to the article is, “Yeah right…”
My response to MDN’s take, Nail has been hit on head.
My response to “Dennis”, And the Gateway isle is excatly where the BB employee and that costumer belong.
MDN you have nailed it yet again!
While it is great to see Apple have a well branded and product stocked area in Best Buy, the problem is Best Buy employees, not Apple products being in the stores…
Before Apple has any more dealings with Best Buy, Steve-O has got to contratually squash BB into having each store provide an employee that is capable of answering Apple-based questions, and is just as pro-Mac as anything else.
Oh I’m sorry, was I dreaming again!?
Steven, There’s a BB right down the hill from where I live, maybe I’ll take that job.
How much would it cost Apple to place an Apple Specialist in every Best buy store that expands its Mac section like this? As they do in CompUSA’s.
I know there are a lot of Best Buy stores, but would it be worth it? After all, there’re a lot more Best Buy’s than Apple stores out there. And then at least the consumer would get accurate Mac product information while in Best Buy. Finally.
Might be worth the expense to Apple during these “expand market share” years.
I spotted Mac minis in a Fort Worth Texas Best Buy last year. The one unit was right at the end of the isle (not on the end display, just at the end) but had a lame 3rd party monitor and keyboard hooked up so you kinda had to know the mini wasn’t some external DVD burner.
Equally lame was that I asked for Mac software and they said they didn’t have any. “Not even MS Office?” “Nope”.
Does anyone know for a fact that it’s the BB Blue shirts selling these computers, or does Apple have their own people selling the computers?
OK, If Apple goes into Best Buy you might as well just forget it. Their image will suffer more than it can take. These idots at Best Buy are retards.
“Equally lame was that I asked for Mac software and they said they didn’t have any. “Not even MS Office?” “Nope”.”
To be fair, the salesperson may have misunderstood the question to read: “Does Best Buy sell Mac software”, rather than “is software for the Mac is available in general”. If the salesperson understood the question with the former meaning the blue shirt is correct, BB doesn’t sell any Mac software.
Maybe, just maybe, they will train their staff about the myths surrounding Macs – perhaps Apple pointed this out to them in their negotiations.
It would be SWEET to have best buys selling Macs properly.
How many times do we need to see this happen.
Go to Best Buy and the iPods are frozen or nothing is loaded on them.
The Mac computers are frozen because someone put every thing in the trash. The Apples at CompUSA are a mess and it won’t be any different at best Buy…Thank god for Apple stores.
Apple should pay kids min wage to go into Best Buys and test the people who work there. Have them reprimand and correct all their bullshit. They could hit 4 best buys a day. Do it randomly.
I haven’t purchased ANYTHING from BB in years. They have the worst buying experience of any box store. Simply awful. I remember when they sold Macs years ago and it was a terrible experience for someone interested in the Mac. I think this would do a lot to damage Apple and the Mac’s reputation.
Chances are Apple would do the same thing they do at CompUSA, have a Apple employee working in the store to sell its products.
I bought my first Mac at a CompUSA in Charlotte, NC. The one I thought I was buying was supposedly the dual 1.8 G5 model. When I got home, I checked the “About this Mac” only to find out that they gave me the single processor model. I took it back the next day and they unwillingly exchanged it for me. Needless to say that that was not a great first impression. And CompUSA majors on computers! BB is a hundred times worse! This is a bad move for Apple. Just stick with your own stores, Apple!
Maybe we should all run one of those social experiements like the Improv guys do at all the Best Buys.
http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57
An amusing look at the mentality of the chains management.
‘bought a MacBook at an Apple store last week, and then stopped by a CompUSA to grab a modem the next day. Day and night experience.
A cute gal, peppy, and enthusiastic listened to me brag about having purchased over 40 Macs at the Apple store, and still managed to ask all the right questions, and ensure the experience was memorable.
At ChompUSA, back in the darkest corner, a plodding, overweight dude said, “We don’t have much Mac stuff.”
Sure enough, no UPS modem. Wheeled out of there.
Won´t be one Best Buy store with Apples within 20-50 miles of an Apple store.
Right next to the Best Buy in Beaverton, Oregon is the Beaverton Mac Store…1.5 miles away is an Apple Store.
————–
Quote:
“… prepared to scale the Mac pilot program ‘rapidly’ if it proves to be a hit,…”
The big “if” word.
RePlay,
Your link was a kick in the pants. Thanks! Made my day.
NON-SAFARI SITE!!!
Guys, we need to hit this site hard so that they support our browser.
All you need to do is click
http://www.zillow.com/
“Sure enough, no UPS modem. Wheeled out of there.”
Well, sure. If you don’t know what you’re asking for (WTF is a “UPS Modem”?! A modem with a built-in power supply?), you might have a harder time…
I stopped by our local CompUSA over the weekend to see about CoD2. The person in the Mac section knew about it, but said it hadn’t come in yet.
Of course, she’s an Apple employee…
One of the issues that Apple will always have is in the use of spiffs. I’m sure if Apple sells a batch of Macs in Best Buy, HP/Sony/Gateway will start offering spiffs to the salespeople. The salespeople will obviously steer people toward the machines that they make extra cash selling.
“Won´t be one Best Buy store with Apples within 20-50 miles of an Apple store.”
Well, if they’re testing this in Southern California, then they’ll have a hard time finding a Best Buy that is not within 20-50 miles of an Apple Store.
Hopefully, if Apple does expand this program, they do it wisely and put their own people in Best Buy, or at least ensure some sort of “Mac training” for their employees.
“prominently displays Apple’s Mac line in a designated area of its personal computer department,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.”
…..And, Prince McLean’s cousin, the Hamburgler, reported, “Rofle, rofle, rofle, rofle.”
Static Mesh, er…MacTard(Dude),
Zillow works fine on Camino and Firefox. Safari is the equivelant to MSIE. Drink your KoolAid slowly. Who cares how much your double wide is worth anyways?
The BestBuy Store in my area (Woodland Hills, CA) is one of those stores that has Macs. I ended up being the sales guy to a lady wanting to buy the now defunct iBook and I don’t even work there!!! The retard in blue couldn’t had no knowledge of the stuff on display. I stood there explaining the different perks to this lady and she finally said she was going to the Apple Store to pick up, the newly unveiled at the time, Macbook instead since I told her about the new intel chip. I explained Expose, Dashboard and of course Boot Camp was the sell. I’m sad to report that I did not get a commission check from BestBuy.
Best Buy needs to be serious about this. Everytime they’ve done this so far has been with very little effort and so they would stop after a month if it lasted that long. If they really want to sell Macs they need to display them properly and sell the full line of software as well. If they think they can put up one dead display and have major sales then they will fail yet again.
Jobs would be a idiot if he lets Best Buy sell Macs without an Apple greek as sales guy and a shelf full of software. The shelf can even be a small one. What a waste if he lets this happen with only “I hate Macs” PC centric BB sales people at the helm.
Too many posters here are whining like two year olds. Skepticism is OK, but cynicism is deadly. This is a big deal. The BB management sees the potential and idiot pimple faced teen BB employees one step above burger flipper IQ will get to understand that their management will fire their asses if they put down the Mac in front of customers. With a huge sudden boost in Macintosh retail presence that BB brings at the same time that Intel is clearly getting outstanding yields and performance from its new chips, Apple can potentially grow the Mac market share at a stunning pace.
This is a big story. I hope Apple volunteers to help train some of the BB staff at the pilot program stores. This opportunity for Apple must not be pissed away.
I’m fortunate to have both CompUSA and an Apple store in the market I live in. When CompUSA was the only store they had all of the hardware and plenty of software, then the Apple store opened and the CompUSA store wasn’t able to get product through the pepline. Lots of complaints to Apple and it is still the same two years later. I have both Macs and PC’s for my business and it requires trips to the CompUSA store. What is frustrating is that with the lack of hardware people who are looking for PC’s and decide to look at a Mac out of curiosity are disapointed and usually ask to see a PC after being disapointed in the meager offerings. I know the Apple expert at the CompUSA and he’s quite frustrated with the second class service. My concern is that BestBuy will end up moving people to PC’s instead.
I hope they prove me wrong, But an Apple/ Best Buy combo is destined to fail because they will not spend the money to do it right. Hell would freeze over if they did it right. Too much greed and stupidity in both camps to do it right. They just want to skim the top of easy sales and leave it at that. I hope I am wrong, I have ” zero” faith in this marriage. It will be a 20% effort by both, when it should be 110% by both.
Schmutz!-
We have a simalr sitaution in our city also. Sears used to sell Macs as did the American store, eventually they switched to PC’s only. If Apple is going to commit to a reseller they need to be sure that there are “Apple” people to answer questions correctly and that there is software to install on the new system. Plenty of stock on hand would be nice for when they run a sale.
Lastonestanding ” Plenty of stock on hand would be nice for when they run a sale.”
If they had more stock then the PC’s in the ad they would definitely get more sales. I hate waiting outside the door for the computer listed in the ad that they only have one of. There are uaually two other waiting with me for the same computer. It’s frustrating to walk in at two and be told that it sold when the doors opened, but that they have other things they’d be happy to sell me.
…always at a higher price
Best Buy also needs to re-educate their “Geek Squad” employees. I ran into one the other day and ended up in a “Mac vs. PCs” debate. Not only was he incredibly misinformed, but I could tell he was arguing more from a gamer’s POV, rather than an actual user’s POV.
Besides the (typically) biased salesforce at Best Buy, Apple should be aware that the Geek Squad has even fewer good things to say about Macs. And those are the people who are going to be helping many of the “switchers” in the field after they buy Apple’s stuff from Best Buy.
Everyone who hasn’t checked out the link that RePlay posted… you really must do so NOW.
I had never heard of Improv Everywhere until now… but just spent quite a time reading about their ‘missions’… in stitches half the time!
Apple’s nuts. The only way Best Buy could possibly be worse is by having live accordianists next to the tills, playing Lady of Spain from opening to closing.
Jobs has lost his mind.
It seems odd that Apple would build beautiful Apple stores and then offer the same product in a Best Buy. This will cannibalize from there own sales. The small local Apple retailers who generally have decent product knowledge are already hurting from the Apple owned stores. I don’t see the logic.
One good thing that I do see coming from this is many people are afraid to switch. Best Buy allows you to return a computer within 14 days. That will allow many people to check out an Apple at home without the fear of not being able to return it.
Best Buy like CompUSA isn’t going to work!
I guess it’s the exception where I live (Ontario, Canada). There’s a Best Buy down the road and they have iMacs, MacBooks, Mac minis, and if they don’t, they’ll order in for you. They seem to me to be pretty enthusiastic about the Macs, I witnessed one sales guy really talking up the iMac to an older couple. They’re displayed pretty nicely too, at least as prominently as the PCs.
Maybe the Canadian Best Buys are better for this?
as well, I forgot to add that in Canada, the Best Buy credit card is the only method that I’ve found to “lease” a Mac (I know it’s not really leasing, but just not having to pay all upfront, and the terms are better than on most major credit cards, well slightly anyways, and the card is alot easier to get).
It’s for this reason that I know quite a few people who got their Macs at Best Buy.
It is not going to work without an Apple Mac sales man anywhere !
He or She should be marked with a big Apple badge and name.
Those electric dump stuf store guys; do not even know that an USB hub works on any Mac ! …
Yes, Apple does have to supply the BB retail guys. And Apple should also keep building Apple stores in top notch upscale locations, but not bother with the typical strip malls where one finds BB and CompUSA. Some of the past refusal to supply retailers was due to supply shortages from the PPC chip vendors. Now that Intel fills the chip role, there is no excuse for shortages.
It is time to drive a wooden stake through the vampire’s evil heart. Apple needs to help its retailers make this a win/win game and kill WIN in the process — sorry for the lousy pun. Petty greedy withholding of product from retailers might make it a lose/lose game. This is a great opportunity at a time of great vulnerability for the Windows platform. As Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a “Y” in the road, take it.
so little action…
If all of you are so adamant about Apple succeeding, why don’t you volunteer to your local Best Buy to teach their staff about Mac?
Example: Microsoft started shipping Media Center to Best Buy and those idiots had no clue about what it was. Microsoft employees and customer MVPs volunteered(free, not paid, I know – I was one) – to teach the staff about the product, maintain the demo machines and put updates on them. It all had to be done by approaching the store manager and asking permission to talk to the staff – it’s working, MCE is expanding, if slowly. Mac could explode if Apple starting working with volunteers to present the message, but they are probably too arrogant(like most of you) to think of such an idea.
May the ‘unwashed’ not offend you all…
The problem with “needing” an Apple employee at Best Buy is that it gives the impression that one would need to have special knowledge to work on a Mac. The best option is for an Apple employee to train (excellently) Best Buy employees.
“Who cares how much your double wide is worth anyways?”
AHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Fsking excellent Billy Bob!!
so much fervor…”Mac could explode if Apple starting working with volunteers to present the message, but they are probably too arrogant(like most of you) to think of such an idea.”
Hello? Were you sleeping through the last 8-10 years. Apple volunteers have been around for a very long time, most of us old timers have freely hepled at grand openings and on weekends to get the truth out. Sounds like another idea stolen from the Mac platform M$ wants to take credit for.
Apple would sell more Macs at a Best Buy if they simply had a stack of maps displaying the route to the nearest Apple Store and the online Apple Store’s URL.
Best Buy simply follows fads and hires employees at the lowest possible wages. Macs are better off with a self-running demo than to have some addle minded 16 year old fumble around, not knowing the difference between Mac facts and myths.
Put an trained Apple rep in each Best Buy or don’t bother selling Macs there at all.