Best Buy Becomes First Independent IPhone Retailer
NEW YORK (AP) – Best Buy will start selling the iPhone on September 7th, becoming the first U.S. chain to do so outside of Apple’s and AT&T’s own stores.
The announcement expands the availability of Apple’s vaunted phone to 970 full-size stores and 16 smaller Best Buy Mobile stores.
It’s also a coup for Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy, which has been upgrading its cell-phone departments.
Shawn Score, president of Best Buy Mobile, says it now has a 3.6 percent share of the cell-phone market, up from 2 percent last year.
It’s a joint venture with CarPhone Warehouse Group, which sells the iPhone in Britain and is Europe’s largest cell-phone retailer.
AT&T spokesman Michael Coe says he can’t speculate on whether the iPhone will be sold at other third-party retailers.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
