As the Apple Turns: Scene 404: Best Buy Bye-Bye (1/29/98)

Best Buy Bye-Bye (1/29/98)

Of course, just because Best Buy is no longer going to be selling Apple computers doesn't mean that they were the ones who ditched the platform (even though the press is putting that typical spin on the whole thing-- take the title of the CNNfn story "Best Buy drops Macs: Electronics superstore deals Apple Computer another blow" for one example). It could just as easily have been Apple who told Best Buy that if they weren't going to display and promote the Macs in a reasonable fashion, they could go play in traffic; recent rumors about Apple "getting tough" with its retailers would seem to support this possibility.

In reality, though, it's a little of both. The guys at MacCentral report that the decision to stop selling Macs at Best Buy was a mutual one that both Best Buy and Apple supported. The reasoning was simply that the two companies are targeting completely separate audiences right now; while Apple has declared its core markets to be content creation and education, Best Buy focuses on the home users (that most people feel Apple should be going after any day now).

As previously reported, Best Buy will continue to carry Mac software, but the measly half-a-percent that Mac sales contributed to their total computer sales numbers just wasn't doing either company much good. Chalk it up to "irreconcilable differences." But if Apple does start going after Joe and Jill Homebody with the rumored sub-$1000 all-in-one Mac this spring/summer, will Best Buy and Apple kiss and make up?

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The above scene was taken from the 1/29/98 episode:

January 29, 1998: Screams of horror and sighs of boredom ripple across the Mac-using world as rumors spread that Rhapsody's shipping name will be "Mac OS Enterprise." Meanwhile, Egghead Software is the latest casualty in the recent rash of tech maulings; it's jettisoning 80% of its workforce and closing every store because it can't compete with giants the likes of Best Buy (whose recent divorce from Apple was a mutually-beneficial separation, with no ill will and no courtroom drama)...

Other scenes from that episode:

402: Losing the Name Game (1/29/98) Good gravy, what's gotten into Apple regarding product names lately? First there was the ill-fated PowerExpress project, which, had it not met its untimely death, was rumored to be named "Power Macintosh Extreme" when it finally made it out of the labs...
403: That Karma Thing, Man (1/29/98) Wow, there sure are a lot of tech-type companies in financial trouble these days: Netscape posted a loss and is laying off 400 people; Micropolis shut down entirely; Seagate is laying off some 10,000 jobs; APS Technologies just filed for Chapter 11; Power Computing just auctioned off the last of its stuff before turning out the lights; Oracle's stock plunged almost 30% last month; and of course there's Apple, whose ongoing financial difficulties are legendary in our own time...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


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