Best Buy and Apple - August 10th

[MacRumors]

News.com (http://news.com.com/2100-1040_3-5057736.html) provides confirmation of the Apple and Best Buy rumors and reports that have been filtering in.

CNet quotes a Best Buy statement:

As part of a pilot program, a few Best Buy stores will begin carrying a larger selection of Apple products, and Apple sales representatives will work in some Best Buy retail locations to help enhance the customer buying experience

...and pins the official launch of the program on August 10th.

Several Best Buy stores (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/07/20030729004809.shtml) have already started selling the Apple equipment. There is no indication how long this pilot program will run.

[Mudbug]

do we have a list of the pilot stores?

[arn]

here's a prelimary list. Not sure how accurate it is. Some may be excluded or included:

Ahwatukee, AZ
Arrowhead, AZ
Mesa(Fiesta), AZ
Goodyear, AZ
Roseville, CA
Arden Fair, CA
Elk Grove, CA
Citrus Heights, CA
Santa Rosa, CA
Marin City, CA
San Carlos, CA
Milpitas, CA
East Palo Alto, CA
San Francisco, CA
Blossom Hill, CA
Dublin, CA
Pleasant Hill, CA
Fairfield, CA
Pinole, CA
Modesto, CA
Union City, CA
Pittsburg, CA
Davenport, IA
Moline, IL
Butterfield Road, IL
Bloomingdale, IL
Naperville, IL
Addison, IL
Harlem & Irving, IL
North Riverside, IL
Melrose Park, IL
North Avenue, IL
Randall Road, IL
Skokie, IL
Arlington Heights, IL
Schaumburg, IL
Evanston, IL
Crystal Lake, IL
Vernon Hills, IL
Golf Mill, IL
Deerfield, IL
West Dundee, IL
Old Orchard, IL
Crestwood, IL
Orland Park, IL
Ford City, IL
Lansing Calumet, IL
Downers Grove, IL
Matteson, IL
Hodgins/Countryside, IL
Merrillville, IN
Bel Air, MD
Maple Grove, MN
Chelsea, NY
86th & Lexington, NY
Roanoke, VA
Lynchburg, VA
Sterling, VA
Springfield Mall, VA

[Mudbug]

wow. ask and ye shall receive. thx arn

[Jerry Spoon]

well, there's our "official" confirmation
Still great news for Apple

[Mudbug]

but no press release? that's odd...

[jaedreth]

Expect a Press Release on the 10th.

Jaedreth

[Freg3000]

Does anyone know why or care to speculate why Illinois and California are the focus of this test program? they can't just be two random states.

[nagromme]

Cool--except I hope "some" Best Buys having Apple reps means ALL the Best Buys that will sell Macs. The reps are important.

[EponymousCow]

I was at the BestBuy in Evanston, IL today. Not only did they have everything on display, they were offering a $150 mail in rebate on the 12" Combo Drive iBook, the 12" Powerbook with Superdrive, and the 15" Powerbook with Superdrive. The rebates said they were good until 8/2. It wasn't clear to me who was offering the rebate, Apple or BestBuy.

[iJon]

Originally posted by EponymousCow
I was at the BestBuy in Evanston, IL today. Not only did they have everything on display, they were offering a $150 mail in rebate on the 12" Combo Drive iBook, the 12" Powerbook with Superdrive, and the 15" Powerbook with Superdrive. The rebates said they were good until 8/2. It wasn't clear to me who was offering the rebate, Apple or BestBuy.
was it an apple rebate or a best buy rebate.

iJon

edit: well im dumb, didnt finish your post.

[Mr. Anderson]

I'll have to go check and see if the Best Buy near me in Crystal City has them. The one in Springfield is a little out of the way - and I'm wondering why they picked that one of all the ones in the area? Its not the easiest to get to....

D

[network23]

This makes no sense! Chicago already HAS an Apple Store, yet every single IL Best Buy listed above is Chicago area! Believe it or not, there is a lower 7/8 of Illinois that would love to see Apple products in a Best Buy if we aren't getting our own Apple Store!

[cuneglasus]

Apple should wait till it has some decently upgraded consumer items before sticking them in a new store:confused:

[daveL]

Originally posted by cuneglasus
Apple should wait till it has some decently upgraded consumer items before sticking them in a new store:confused:
Well, they're already in the Apple Stores.

[jaedreth]

I live in Austin, Texas, as you can see. I worked for Apple for 3 years at their support and sales center in Austin. During a Keynote while I was still working at Apple, Steve made mention of the new Apple Store in Plano, Willow Bend, then said, "As far away from Austin and Houston as possible."

A lot of my support comrades were there when he said that.

And guess what? Houston has a store. WE STILL DON'T.

The largest and most experience AppleCare call center is in Austin, Texas, and it looks like we won't ever get an Apple Retail Store here at this rate.

I'm tired of Apple giving us the middle finger in this town. It's a great city, but macs are on the wane here because there aren't any decent Mac establishments here. The best I can do is go to Fry's Electronics, but they don't have Apple guys, just regular sales folks. However, at least they respect their macs, unlike others.

If Apple did have an Apple Retail Store here, I know tons of people who would go there, and a lot of them already work for Apple. Even those like me who no longer do.

King of Prussia got one before us. Ask someone from CA or FL or NY where King of Prussia is, versus Austin... Come on peoples... (Besides, all capital cities should have one anyways...)

Jaedreth

[whfsdude]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
I'll have to go check and see if the Best Buy near me in Crystal City has them. The one in Springfield is a little out of the way - and I'm wondering why they picked that one of all the ones in the area? Its not the easiest to get to....

D

Which one? The potomac yards one or the one next to pentagon city?

I was at the one in potomac yards two days ago, nothing :-(

[cnladd]

Originally posted by network23
This makes no sense! Chicago already HAS an Apple Store, yet every single IL Best Buy listed above is Chicago area! Believe it or not, there is a lower 7/8 of Illinois that would love to see Apple products in a Best Buy if we aren't getting our own Apple Store!

Yes, it does. And there are several Apple Stores all over California, as well. It's all about population density and existing market share. They're just running the pilots in the places that their research shows them as being most likely to sustain the business.

[tntoak]

The $150 mail-in rebate at Best Buy is a store rebate on all notebooks.

[pilotgi]

Apple products in Best Buys without Apple reps is not a good idea. I can just hear it now:

Customer:"Know anything about those Macs over there?

BB emp: "Macs are more expensive and there's no software."

BB emp:"Macs come with a Pentium G4."

BB emp:"Sure, they look cool, but I'm not sure if you can use the internet."

[dbally]

I agree with jaedreth on this one. I'm a very potential switcher (essentially already am minus the hardware purchase ). I'm also in a college town an hour and a half away from both Houston and Austin. Between Texas A&M and UT you'd think there would be enough students to warrant a store in Austin, or at least at some Best Buys in Texas. Here's to wishful thinking :)

[Hodapp]

I was at Best Buy last night, they had a 12 inch powerbook, a 15 inch powerbook, a 17 inch imac, a g4 powermac, and an emac out on display in Naperville, IL.

[bwintx]

Originally posted by Freg3000
Does anyone know why or care to speculate why Illinois and California are the focus of this test program? they can't just be two random states.

These states are often used as test markets for a variety of products, programs, deals, etc. It's not for nothing that there is the old saying about whether something will "play in Peoria." :D

[dbally]

I agree with jaedreth on this one. I'm a very potential switcher (essentially already am minus the hardware purchase ). I'm also in a college town an hour and a half away from both Houston and Austin. Between Texas A&M and UT you'd think there would be enough students to warrant a store in Austin, or at least at some Best Buys in Texas. Here's to wishful thinking :)

[tntoak]

Apple products in Best Buys without Apple reps is not a good idea. I can just hear it now:

Customer:"Know anything about those Macs over there?

BB emp: "Macs are more expensive and there's no software."

BB emp:"Macs come with a Pentium G4."

BB emp:"Sure, they look cool, but I'm not sure if you can use the internet."

I'd suggest refraining from making such generalized comments about BBY employees. Judging from some of the posts in this and other threads relating to the BBY/Apple situation, I'd wager that there are a fair number of people on these forums who work at Best Buy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being characterized like that.

[cnladd]

Originally posted by tntoak
I'd suggest refraining from making such generalized comments about BBY employees. Judging from some of the posts in this and other threads relating to the BBY/Apple situation, I'd wager that there are a fair number of people on these forums who work at Best Buy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being characterized like that.

Two weeks ago I was at a Best Buy listening to a man and his son ask about Windows XP, which came with the PC he was planning to purchase. The employee then proceeded to tell him that XP is all well and good, but he'll want to look into purchasing Windows ME in order to get the most use out of his system, and that ME was much more stable and is much newer than XP.

This isn't a Mac vs. PC thing. This is simply about lack of training or, unfortunately in some cases, an employee that just doesn't/can't know or care. Those are the ones that stand out.

[edenwaith]

Originally posted by network23
This makes no sense! Chicago already HAS an Apple Store, yet every single IL Best Buy listed above is Chicago area! Believe it or not, there is a lower 7/8 of Illinois that would love to see Apple products in a Best Buy if we aren't getting our own Apple Store!

I don't think I could have said it any better. I recently moved to Illinois (there were no Best Buys where I came from), so it would have been nice to have some Apple products being sold in some of the other Best Buys. C'mon, the Chicago area already has THREE Apple Stores. Sure, they're nice and all, but Apple needs to distribute its stores a little better instead of just clumping them all together.

[TMJ1974]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
I'll have to go check and see if the Best Buy near me in Crystal City has them. The one in Springfield is a little out of the way - and I'm wondering why they picked that one of all the ones in the area? Its not the easiest to get to....

D

Apple has it's own stores in Clarendon and Tysons Corner....can't have too much competition for them ;-)

[TMJ1974]

Originally posted by tntoak
I'd suggest refraining from making such generalized comments about BBY employees. Judging from some of the posts in this and other threads relating to the BBY/Apple situation, I'd wager that there are a fair number of people on these forums who work at Best Buy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being characterized like that.

While I agree with you about making unfair generalizations....my unfortunate experience suggests that the original post is not too far off.

While there are great Best Buy employess (who actually know and use computers), there are many who don't even know PCs well, let alone Macs.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised some passed the interview.

With this, and in all fairness, the same can be said of the Apple Store, some know their stuff and others must have thought they were applying at a produce (meaning fruits) store.

Best Buy will be a very powerful sales vehicle for Apple though, if it is done well.

Tim

[SiliconAddict]

I went into the Bloomington, MN store yesterday and asked a few CSRs in the computer area in the back about Apple. The folks there were actually interested and hoping for Macs to show up. I consider this a good sign.

[MacGuy283]

I think why that the test is mostly in the chicago area is because there is a huge population and people in the chicago suburbs usually make a very decent amount of money. I think its like the 3rd richest area in the country behind california and new york. This would allow for non mac users to see it and then actually buy it, not just already mac users. I actually used to work for best buy before I went to school and the stores in chicago area do around 70,000+ a day some do a 100,000+ and it would allow to see how more people react to it. I know I would find it annoying if i couldnt get to an apple store for hours but itll eventually happen if this goes like it is supposed to, luckly i have an apple store, compusa and 5 best buys less then 20 min from me javascript:smilie(';)') . My friend still works at best buy and he said they would be on bestbuy.com soon.

[jhershauer]

I stopped by the Best Buy near Fiesta Mall in Mesa, AZ today. They have the mac stuff out, but not completely set up. The 15" and 17" iMacs were turned off. The eMac was turned on, but didn't have a keyboard hooked up. There was also a G4 Tower and 17" display out, but not running. Price tags were in place for the 12" ibook, 12" Powerbook, and 15" Powerbook (maybe the 17" too...can't remember), but none of the laptops were on display yet. Finally, on the shelves below the computers, they had some Apple peripherals (mice, speakers, Airport Xtreme, etc.), and a little bit of software (iLife, FC Express, Keynote, Jaguar).

The locations definitely have nothing to do with proximity to other Apple dealers. This Best Buy is located in the same shopping center as a CompUSA, and 10 minutes from the Chandler Apple Store. It appears as though the AZ stores that are getting apple are the ones that also got the new "Pod Design" store layout a few weeks back. The stores with the older, basic layout don't seem to be getting apple equipment just yet - even if they're much further away from existing CompUSAs or Apple Stores.

I also noticed the $150 rebate on the laptops, but didn't get the details. All of the apple resellers seem to have some kind of $150 deal going on until Aug. 2. CompUSA is offering a free Airport card and free $50 printer with Apple laptops.

Jeff

[tntoak]

The Best Buy rebate is a straight up $150 rebate - not one of those conditional rebates (i.e., you don't have to prepay for 2 years of MSN or use the Best Buy Card or buy anything besides the computer itself, for that matter).

[Centris 650]

I have to agree with the general tone here. Apple does need to stop "clumping" it's stores together. The south has seemed well ignored in Apple Store placement, especially SC. NC has one with another possible store in Charlotte (so the rumors go) and GA has one. If you live in Columbia that's about a 4 hour drive to either one. Columbia really needs an Apple store but at least we have several Best Buys!

[Mr. Anderson]

And then DC has two Apple stores. Its weird, there's no doubt about it.

But you know, I its nice to go there, but I'm not going to buy next machine there - I can get better deals almost anywhere else.

D

[Spidermanjohn]

All but the 17" PB and the dual 1.2 were on display. Nobody jumped to help me as I made numerous changes on all the computers. I was in the store around 12:10 today.

[rueyeet]

I can totally see only having one pilot location in Maryland...but in Bel Air?!? Bel Air is north of Baltimore, and almost rural....the Baltimore Metro area is already served by the Apple Store in Towson, which is on the northern side. Clumping again.

Meanwhile, the very affluent suburban areas between Baltimore and DC are left to CompUSA, all the way down to Northern VA.

Go figure. I'd have chosen Columbia, Rockville, or Potomac...

[you]

Will best buy have them on their website? Im asking becaus ei have a friend who works at bestbuy and can "hook me up" she said she can get stuff at manufactuars price. Would that be better than the educational discount for the 12" from the apple store?

[Mudbug]

Well, I can say the so far we officially have nothing at the Best Buy in Shreveport (not that anyone's suprised by that info). I checked anyway because of some odd posts I've seen about there being equipment on the shelves in places it shouldn't have been (yet).

Oh well...
Anyone got news of Target selling iPods again?

[Apmonia]

On Best Buy's website they have the 12' PowerBook for 1799.99 with a 150 dollar mail-in rebate. They are also offering the 24 month no interest financing as well. That is about the best offer I have seen around.

[question fear]

Originally posted by you
Will best buy have them on their website? Im asking becaus ei have a friend who works at bestbuy and can "hook me up" she said she can get stuff at manufactuars price. Would that be better than the educational discount for the 12" from the apple store?

unless your friend has discovered something more to the best buy discount program, no.
as a former best buy employee, i can tell you that the manufacturer price is the price best buy pays to get a computer/peripheral/software into their warehouse. Ergo, a PS2 costs best buy ~198.00. it is actually cheaper for an employee to buy it at face value than at the "discount" which is 5% above the best buy cost (in this case, 198.00). Best buy makes their money off the peripherals, the extended warranty, the video games, etc.
my guess is apple is similar to sony and does not give resellers big margins.
the only way your friend could "hook you up" is if she were able to get the order for the new computer in with a larger shipment. even then, its likely the edu discount would be more encompassing for your needs.
besides that, best buy (at least the district i worked in) was really strict on use of the discount, and they would keep a watchful eye on anyone who made a purchase as large as a computer with it...so they might get suspicious if your friend isnt careful.
just my advice.
--carly
ps: the best buy discount is excellent for peripherals-if you need a cable, mouse, etc definitely get it through her. i got tons of goodies that way. not worth the ****ty hours or bad management though.

[dochypno]

quote:
"On Best Buy's website they have the 12' PowerBook for 1799.99 with a 150 dollar mail-in rebate. They are also offering the 24 month no interest financing as well. That is about the best offer I have seen around."

-------------------------------------

That doesn't make sense. The 12" Powerbook with Combo Drive is only $1599. If they're selling it for $1799 with a $150 rebate, then you still overpay ~$50.

[shecky]

it's with the superdrive. why do you assume he meant the unit with the combo drive? he didn't say that anywhere.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1057490658429&skuId=5735957&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174

[andrewlandry]

i checked out the macs at Best Buy in Chelsea, NYC during lunch today.

They had applications installed, but nothing useful was in the dock of any of the machines. And the 17" display hooked up to a 1.25 PM was set at 1024X768.

Also, one of the screensavers was set to a .mac slideshow, which does not work if it isn't connected to the internet, which none of these machines were.

Anyhow, I was a little surprised that they would have been so poorly setup. Oh well, I couldn't leave them there like that - so I took a few minutes to select nice (properly functioning) screen savers, but cool applications in the dock (like Office). Open iDVD on the comps. w/Superdrives. And I just had to fix the resolution on the 17" Display.

Just thought I'd share my moment of dorkiness at BestBuy.

[Sherman]

I do that all the time over at the CompUSA. They take very little care of their macs, it's quite a shame. Their PC's aren't in much better shape though. There was one 2.7Ghz custom built with a really awesome completely clear case and some blue neon lights and a Radeon 9800 and 1GB of RAM. Something to do the word processing on, basically.

The thing was though, the whole front panel was off and it kept crashing for an unknown reason. It would just die. Pretty shabby.

[fintler]

At a high volume best buy in pa, there is going to be a "training" held on august 10th to inform the prod spcs (sales staff) of upcoming events in the company. Included in it will be something about selling macs that they're being really vague on (they're vague on everything..heh). The actual products to be sold have not yet been deceided on so it's probably just going to be something about how the asls will come in and sell them and how our prod spcs should work with them to get the best results or something. As soon as I get the training materials I'll make sure I get the stuff about apple posted. As for bby people being idiots when it comes to computers, I'd like to mention that at our store we have someone who is an adc select member and a few other mac heads including myself. I agree it is a problem in many stores, but having product knowlege shouldn't be too much of a problem here :)

[fintler]

cough...right from the source :)

"News Item


Have You Heard? The Mac Is Back

Please note: The following story is from Retail Weekly for Best Buy U.S. stores.
While Macs will only be sold at select stores beginning Aug. 3, they will be available nationwide on BestBuy.com. That means everyone need to know the latest information on Macs.

With the same passion Democrats and Republicans often use to express their political views, PC and Mac owners can debate their computers’ superiority for hours on end. With its impassioned customers and loyal fan base, adding Macs back into the product assortment can only have positive results.

Customer-driven solutions
Selling Apple computers helps differentiate Best Buy from other retailers and helps provide specific solutions to a valuable customer segment. This is what being customer-driven is all about. Even though Macs won’t be carried at all stores, the assortment available on BestBuy.com means all stores will be impacted by its Aug. 3 rollout.

Know the ad
Starting Aug. 10, ads will drive customer traffic to our stores and to BestBuy.com for Macs. Look for Macs to be consistently highlighted in ads through much of August and September.

Service center info
Twelve service center technicians (one from each location) attended training at Apple’s corporate training facility in Cupertino, Calif. from July 21 to Aug. 1. This enables Best Buy service centers to be certified for factory warranty service on all Apple products.



Date: 8/5/2003 2:51:38 PM "

[KrazyKidd]

this is from best buy:

during the pilot, the best buy performance service plan available on all pc desktops and notebooks will not be offered with apple desktops and notebooks. Instead, the pilot offers the applecare service straight from apple. Also, starting august 10, the notebook mail in rebate of $150.00 will exclude Apple laptops as can be found in the small print. product specialists are also told not to suggest hardware upgrades and system tune ups at best buy for apple products because of the lack of tech training in the service dept.

i'll post more info as it comes

[iClarus]

Has anyone had contact with any Apple employees working the Apple sections at the participating Best Buys? I am just curious whether they have already started work.

[BenRoethig]

Bought my iBook today at the Best Buy in Davenport. It was a pleasant expirience. Staff had no appearant bias and was very helpful. To be honest I might not have if I had to drive to Chicago or Milwaukee to buy the thing. Best Buy's financing isn't bad either.

[MacGuy283]

I was back at my local best buy and there was an apple ASC there carying around a 12" powerbook, didnt talk to him though.

[themadchemist]

My signature reveals my opinion of Best Buy.

But hey, anything to sell a Mac...

[x86isslow]

I was in the bby in nashua nh the other day.. sales reps seemed to anticipate arrival of mac hardware.. tho they said that they didnt know when.. "not even the store manager knows when"..until then tho, we have a really nice, albeit far away, apple store at cambridgeside galleria.. :cool:

[sacrilicious]

15" on Bestbuy doesn't look very sleek. (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1058188744592&skuId=5812908&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174)