Best Buy To Meet Mobile In The Middle

On its earnings call last week amidst the backdrop of CTIA, Best Buy noted its intention to open 75 to 100 “small-format” stores, the lion’s share of which will be Best Buy Mobile stores. The retailer, which is a dominant seller of televisions and PCs, sees great potential in the “third screen” of the cell phone, even though it has limited control of device pricing (and even less control over subscription pricing). First, it believes that its impartiality, selection, and customer service can offer advantages that the carrier stores cannot. And handsets offer supplemental revenue streams of accessories, Geek Squad setup, and ongoing maintenance and data management services.
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The Price of Freedom

In his last post, my colleague Steve Baker touched on some of the few shining stars in the dark void that the technology marketplace has been in 2009. If the sun comes up in 2010, though, consumers will begin to find cable and wireless networks more open to access devices at retail than ever.

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