NEWS; BestBuy to sell iPhone

Starting September 7.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...googlenews_wsj

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› See More: NEWS; BestBuy to sell iPhone

Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> Starting September 7.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
> wsj
>
>

That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they can let
Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?

Looks like the holdback nonsense will soon be over....

WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:48:28 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:

>Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>>
>> Starting September 7.
>>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
>> wsj
>>
>>
>
>That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they can let
>Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?
>
>Looks like the holdback nonsense will soon be over....
>
>WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.

No, you Apple hating clown, Radio Shack might be next, and likely
BestBuy will be selling iPhones at little to no profit (maybe even a
loss) to get customers into the store, to buy fancy leather cases for
their iPhone at 300% markup from China. BestBuy already
sells Apple Macintosh computers, unlike Walmart that sells Acers.

Apple is now manufactuireing 800,000 units a week, and still it'll be
a month before there can be some in the pipeline for BestBuy. Hardly
an example of unsold units.

Ron wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:48:28 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
>> news:[email protected]:
>>
>>>
>>> Starting September 7.
>>>
>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
>>> wsj
>>>
>>>
>>
>> That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they can
>> let Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?
>>
>> Looks like the holdback nonsense will soon be over....
>>
>> WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.
>
> No, you Apple hating clown, Radio Shack might be next, and likely
> BestBuy will be selling iPhones at little to no profit (maybe even a
> loss) to get customers into the store, to buy fancy leather cases for
> their iPhone at 300% markup from China.
>
I doubt they let them sell them for below the fixed-price, or else they just
won't. I am not a member, but happened to have wandered into one of the
"Club" type stores near me, BJ Wholesalers. I was shocked to see that all
Apple products were marked and sold at list price. There was not a "bargain"
to be found.

On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:51:58 -0400, "Carl"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Ron wrote:
>> On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:48:28 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
>>> news:[email protected]:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Starting September 7.
>>>>
>>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
>>>> wsj
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they can
>>> let Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?
>>>
>>> Looks like the holdback nonsense will soon be over....
>>>
>>> WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.
>>
>> No, you Apple hating clown, Radio Shack might be next, and likely
>> BestBuy will be selling iPhones at little to no profit (maybe even a
>> loss) to get customers into the store, to buy fancy leather cases for
>> their iPhone at 300% markup from China.
>>
>I doubt they let them sell them for below the fixed-price, or else they just
>won't. I am not a member, but happened to have wandered into one of the
>"Club" type stores near me, BJ Wholesalers. I was shocked to see that all
>Apple products were marked and sold at list price. There was not a "bargain"
>to be found.
>

Try reading the post before you criticize. No where did I say BestBuy
would charge less than ATT/Apple.

Larry wrote:
> Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> Starting September 7.
>>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
>> wsj
>>
>>
>
> That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they can let
> Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?

Apple is looking to increase market share, and to do that they have to
go beyond AT&T and Apple stores.

Radio Shack must be fuming. Radio Shack dumped Verizon, believing that
Cingular would be more profitable and immediately saw their mobile phone
sales plunge, actually putting the whole company at risk, and resulting
in the closing of hundred of stores. The iPhone would be a boon to Radio
Shack.

> WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.

WalMart sells the iPod Touch, so it isn't unreasonable to think that
they could sell the iPhone as well. They're selling the iPod Touch at a
$50 discount off MSRP (they include a $50 gift card), see
"http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10159840&ci_sku=10159840".

Personally, I'd much rather go to Wal-Mart than Best Buy or Circuit City.

Carl wrote:

> I doubt they let them sell them for below the fixed-price, or else they just
> won't. I am not a member, but happened to have wandered into one of the
> "Club" type stores near me, BJ Wholesalers. I was shocked to see that all
> Apple products were marked and sold at list price. There was not a "bargain"
> to be found.

What Wal-Mart does with some Apple products is to sell them at list
price but offer a Wal-Mart gift card as a bonus. I.e., they sell the
32GB iPod Touch for $497.88, but they include a $50 Wal-Mart gift card.

Apple's decision to go into mass market retailers is a key part of their
strategy to position their products less as boutique items, and more as
mass market items.

BFD!

"Ron" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Starting September 7.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...googlenews_wsj
>

Ron wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:51:58 -0400, "Carl"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Ron wrote:
>>> On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:48:28 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ron <[email protected]> wrote in
>>>> news:[email protected]:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Starting September 7.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...od=googlenews_
>>>>> wsj
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> That's odd. Sales are so good they have extra units unsold they
>>>> can let Best Buy have wholesale??? WTF?
>>>>
>>>> Looks like the holdback nonsense will soon be over....
>>>>
>>>> WalMart will be next.....They sell Wii without any discounts, too.
>>>
>>> No, you Apple hating clown, Radio Shack might be next, and likely
>>> BestBuy will be selling iPhones at little to no profit (maybe even a
>>> loss) to get customers into the store, to buy fancy leather cases
>>> for their iPhone at 300% markup from China.
>>>
>> I doubt they let them sell them for below the fixed-price, or else
>> they just won't. I am not a member, but happened to have wandered
>> into one of the "Club" type stores near me, BJ Wholesalers. I was
>> shocked to see that all Apple products were marked and sold at list
>> price. There was not a "bargain" to be found.
>>
>
> Try reading the post before you criticize. No where did I say BestBuy
> would charge less than ATT/Apple.
>
My post wasn't aimed directly at yours per se, it was just meant as a
commentary about Apple and Best Buy in general. But being that your
response has such a tinge of defensive hostility, allow me to point out that
I believe you did say this:

"and likely BestBuy will be selling iPhones at little to no profit (maybe
even a
loss) to get customers into the store".

One can draw inferences in several different ways from that vaguely-worded
statement, one of which is that you ARE saying that BestBuy will be
discounting the phones from the reg. retail price. The second can be that
you think BestBuy will be paying the same RETAIL price that we would pay and
will sell it for no profit or a slight loss. That, of course, would be
plain stupid of you to imply, and would show a huge lack of knowledge of the
way business works. The only other option that I can see is that you believe
that the markup on iPhones is so tiny, that stores who carry them pay only a
small percentage less than the retail price. Now that actually is a
possibility with consumer electronics. In any case, no one knows what the
f___ you meant since you weren't clear.

I read posts before I reply. I'd suggest you take your own advice. Or be
more clear in what you write when you do post. And stop trying to be a
smart-ass. Based on your posts, you're not that smart.

SMS wrote:
> Carl wrote:
>
>> I doubt they let them sell them for below the fixed-price, or else
>> they just won't. I am not a member, but happened to have wandered
>> into one of the "Club" type stores near me, BJ Wholesalers. I was
>> shocked to see that all Apple products were marked and sold at list
>> price. There was not a "bargain" to be found.
>
> What Wal-Mart does with some Apple products is to sell them at list
> price but offer a Wal-Mart gift card as a bonus. I.e., they sell the
> 32GB iPod Touch for $497.88, but they include a $50 Wal-Mart gift
> card.
> Apple's decision to go into mass market retailers is a key part of
> their strategy to position their products less as boutique items, and
> more as mass market items.
>
I see. That is a way to get around the manufacturer's "rules", I suppose. I
never understand the apparent price-fixing of items like these since
price-fixing is generally against the law. I know in the guitar business,
it is against manufacturer's rules to ADVERTISE a price lower than the
retail price, a practice which seems to be allowed, but when you directly
call the stores, you may find price discounting in reality.

"Carl" <[email protected]> wrote in news:48a32c0c$0$7317
[email protected]:

> My post wasn't aimed directly at yours per se, it was just meant as a
> commentary about Apple and Best Buy in general.

Here in North Charleston, SC, Best Buy opened up a Sellphone shop with some
MP3 players in it, DIRECTLY next to the most successful, longest-running
independent dealer's kiosk, a move the mall should have vetoed. I bet they
paid some heavy price for that particular store.

I told the guys in the kiosk I thought it really sucked.

At 13 Aug 2008 21:52:12 +0000 Larry wrote:

> Here in North Charleston, SC, Best Buy opened up a Sellphone shop with
> some
> MP3 players in it, DIRECTLY next to the most successful, longest-running
> independent dealer's kiosk, a move the mall should have vetoed. I bet
> they paid some heavy price for that particular store.
>
> I told the guys in the kiosk I thought it really sucked.


Not if they played it correctly- having Best Buy next door could be the
best thing that ever happened to them.

Independents can react more quickly than plodding chains whose sales are
planned months in advance, and source product from any vendor.

When I owned a Cingular dealership in Kansas City, the reps from my strip
center came to me hat in hand and asked if I'd allow them to put another
cellular dealer in the center (my lease had a clause protecting me from
other stores in my line of business opening in the same center, and they
just had a bunch of tenants leave recently.) I told them sure, in exchange
for a discount in the rent- I figured if I wasn't good enough to beat the
competition what was I doing in that business anway? Clustered competitive
stores bring more customers (like the car dealer "alleys" in most towns.)
I was happy to reap the benefit of my competition's advertising and steal
their customers (legitimately of course.)

Unfortunately the competitor never did the deal.

Carl wrote:

> I see. That is a way to get around the manufacturer's "rules", I suppose. I
> never understand the apparent price-fixing of items like these since
> price-fixing is generally against the law. I know in the guitar business,
> it is against manufacturer's rules to ADVERTISE a price lower than the
> retail price, a practice which seems to be allowed, but when you directly
> call the stores, you may find price discounting in reality.

Yes, it's almost like Fair Trade pricing is back. Bose does the same
thing. It's not price fixing, it's just forbidding retailers to have
sales or advertise lower prices than MSRP. Saturn used to do the same
thing on cars, but the dealers would negotiate with buyers that
understood that Saturn's pricing policy wasn't set in stone.

OTOH, a lot of retailers have ways around this, by offering bonuses like
gift cards or other freebies. Amazon is also famous for this.

On Aug 13, 8:35*am, Ron <[email protected]> wrote:
> *Starting September 7.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew....

There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
iPhone this fall.

How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
employees who know nothing of what they sell.

4phun <[email protected]> amazed us all with the following in
news:e81bdcfd-e501-4cab-af9a-7fa604369f53@v57g2000hse.googlegroups.com:

> On Aug 13, 8:35*am, Ron <[email protected]> wrote:
>> *Starting September 7.
>>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1218...?mod=googlenew..
> .
>
> There is a nasty rumor that Radio Shack is also going to have the
> iPhone this fall.
>
> How many stores is that, 5000 Radio Shacks? They have been closing so
> many I doubt they are really around much now a days. And I think Radio
> Shack ranks at the top for having incompetent low wage inner city
> employees who know nothing of what they sell.
>
>

Sounds like a disgruntled ex-employee to me.