Slash Lane
An anonymous GameStop employee provided Kotaku with a screenshot of the company's inventory screen. It shows three MacBook models listed among used Xbox 360 hard drives, HDMI cables and a PlayStation Portable carrying case.
A second screenshot shows a more extensive list of MacBooks, complete with prices well below retail, suggesting that the retailer will sell refurbished Apple notebooks rather than new hardware. Listed in the inventory system is a 2-gigahertz 13-inch MacBook for $459.99, an 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.4-gigahertz processor for $749.99, and a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a 2.4-gigahertz processor for $2099.99.
Four more low-end MacBook models are also listed in the inventory system, with a 2.1-gigahertz MacBook listed for $589.99 a 2.4-gigahertz model for $749.99, a 2.53-gigahertz-powered machine for $799.99, and a 2.66-gigahertz notebook for $949.99.
GameStop's trade-in program allows customers to sell their used gaming hardware or software to the U.S.-based retail chain for store credit, or 20 percent less in cash. Though GameStop specializes in traditional console games, late last year the company began accepting trade-ins of iPhone, iPad, and iPod hardware.
As software sales become increasingly disc-less, GameStop has also pushed into the digital distribution business, and offers PC game downloads from its website. Just this week, the company even began selling gift cards to Valve's Steam, a competing digital download service.
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Marko Zivkovic
14 Comments
Makes me wonder how much they'll give for trade ins. My 2007 Santa Rosa based 17" MacBook Pro sold for 800 bucks four years later.
Yeah, they'll take them in for $100 and sell them for $900, but they'll put them back in the box first and re-shrink wrap it and sell it as "new".
I was surprised to notice a sign in Gamestop's window the other day proclaiming that they sell iDevices.
I had been wondering what changes their business model will go through in the coming decade. Of course they have a strong consumer base across new and used video games and then I had heard they were trying to back their own tablet platform, but that sounded like a dead end to me. Expanding the scope of used goods sold seems like a logical progression, but I'm not sure it's the evolution they'll need to stay alive.
I had been wondering what changes their business model will go through in the coming decade.
Particularly since the idea of "used games" is actively being fought by the next generation of consoles.
Does this mean that the industry will start to consider the Mac as a legitimate gaming platform? Because they don't...and it isn't.