Best Buy Says iWant iPhone

Company Signs Agreement with Apple to Offer iPhone in all Best Buy Mobile Stores

<August 13, 2008>Best Buy Co. Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with Apple to sell the popular iPhone 3G at all Best Buy Mobile stores nationwide, starting September 7. The iPhone 3G is emerging as an unqualified success for Apple, and many industry observers suggest that this deal will provide a significant boost to Best Buy’s business.

Best Buy Mobile stores are sections within Best Buy’s 970 current locations and they carry a large assortment of cell phones – up to 95 different models – and phone company plans – up to nine different carriers – in each location.

Says Best Buy president and chief operating officer, Brian Dunn, “the new iPhone has changed the way people think about their mobile phones, and we are delighted to help more customers get their hands on this revolutionary product.”

The company says it will sell the iPhone 3G 8GB model for $199 suggested retail, and the 16GB model for $299 suggested retail. Both phones require a two year contract with AT&T for this pricing.

Best Buy claims that a key feature of their Best Buy Mobile stores are their employees who undergo intensive training on cell phone technology and trends. Customers purchasing from Best Buy Mobile will be offered a Walk Out Working ™ program in which store employees will set up the customers phone – including configuring personalization features such as email accounts and data transfer – so the customer walks out of the store with their new phone fully operational.

According to a report in Reuters, Apple sold about 1 million iPhones the first weekend it went on sale this past July. Some think that this agreement with Best Buy will help Apple hit its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008.

Best Buy is the first national store to retail the iPhone which had been exclusively handled by Apple’s and AT&T’s retail locations up to now.