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Last-Ditch Attempts (2/21/99)
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For better or for worse (and we sure hope it's for better), it sounds like the Apple-Best Buy relationship is on the mend. We took the fact that the new fruit-flavored iMacs were released some seven weeks ago and still haven't surfaced in any of the 213 Best Buy stores across the nation, added in the reports of the complete and utter absence of any iMacs, including Bondi blue models, from several of those stores, and we just had to assume that a breakup was imminent. And given the absolutely atrocious experience many people have had while trying to buy iMacs at their local Best Buy, we can't say were all that sad about seeing the consumer superstore chain leave the Apple fold, even though they were such a huge potential source of iMac sales revenue.
But the honeymoon's not over yet-- at least, not if Apple Insider's sources are correct. It appears that the haggling over the potential inventory nightmare of trying to stock iMacs in five separate colors has finally concluded, and Best Buy caved. All five flavors are winging their translucent way to Best Buy stores and should show up within a week. And that's not all; Apple is telling their retail support lackeys MarketSource Corporation to throw a lot of weight Best Buy's way. And by "weight" we don't just mean training and marketing materials-- we're talking swag. Swag of the Apple-branded giveaways persuasion; Apple apparently hopes to win the hearts and minds of the anti-Apple Best Buy sales personnel by bombarding them with t-shirts, buttons, and day planners. Well, it's an interesting plan, if a doomed one...
Sounds like Best Buy is "putting up with" Apple's demands, more or less. And that's just good business sense, given the sales potential of putting one of the most popular consumer computers into one of the largest consumer-oriented electronics superstores. Truth be told, we have a feeling that the real reason that Best Buy is complying with Apple's wishes to keep the iMac account is so that they'll be in on the ground floor when the Apple consumer portable ships later this year. It's hard to imagine a brightly-colored, translucent, lightweight, shockproof and inexpensive laptop not breaking sales records, and if Best Buy's management has any working grey matter at all, they want a piece of that action. First things first, though-- we'll be keeping our eyes open at the local Best Buy for the arrival of fruit-flavored iMacs.
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SceneLink (1353)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 2/21/99 episode: February 21, 1999: Best Buy may finally have caved and agreed to sell all five iMac flavors, in hopes of staying on board to sell the consumer portable once it's released this summer. Meanwhile, the latest sales figures give the "iMac as Fad" crowd more ammunition, and "Redmond Justice" turns up the heat with courtroom outbursts worthy of Sweeps Month...
Other scenes from that episode: 1354: We Had Joy, We Had Fun (2/21/99) Speaking of the iMac's popularity, could it be that its six months of fame is over? After hitting number one on the sales charts last November, it sank to number three in December. Apple watchers the world over were hoping that the new fruit-flavored models introduced in early January, which included bigger hard drives, faster processors, and lower prices in addition to a choice of colors, would help propel the iMac back into the top spot... 1355: Courtroom Anarchy (2/21/99) Sure, George Clooney's last episode of ER has probably been the most hyped-up event during this February Sweeps Month, but that doesn't mean that other shows shied away from the competition. Take, for example, the "verbal fireworks" that erupted in court during last Thursday's episode of "Redmond Justice."...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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