AppleInsider Staff
It was announced Sunday that Apple will be making Apple Watch available at more than 100 Best Buy stores in the U.S. on Aug. 7, making the big box electronics retailer the first major outlet to carry Watch outside of Apple's own stores.
Best Buy will start stocking Watch through its online store and at select locations, with plans to expand to over 300 outlet before the lucrative holiday shopping season. Since launching in April, Apple has limited sales to its own online and brick-and-mortar outlets, international pop-up shops and a few token third-party boutiques.
When Best Buy starts sales, customers will be able to choose from Apple Watch Sport and stainless steel Apple Watch models, as well as official Apple accessories like straps. Solid gold Apple Watch Edition versions, which start at $10,000, are not part of Best Buy's initial Watch offering.
Extending Watch availability to a broader customer base is obviously a key factor to steady sales growth, but early manufacturing hurdles slowed initial production to negatively impact stock on hand. To deal with supply constraints, Apple limited Watch orders to those placed online and only started stocking the wearable on its own shelves in mid-June. Including Apple Stores, Watch is currently available at 680 points of sale.
During Apple's quarterly conference call for the third fiscal quarter of 2015, CEO Tim Cook denied reports of "collapsing" Watch sales, saying post-launch shipments have held steady and actually peaked in June.
"We're convinced that the Watch is going to be one of the top gifts of the holiday season," Cook said.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
55 Comments
I saw this in my Twitter feed. I'll be curious to see how these are displayed in store. The Apple sections at Best Buy stores is pretty small, but I can't imagine Apple wanting the Watch to be displayed along side other smart watches and fitness bands. I think iPhones are usually in the smart phone section but the last time I was at a Best Buy they had been moved to the Apple section of the store right by the Macs and iPads.
Watch sales must be healthy if best buy wants in. So there's that.
[quote name="9secondko" url="/t/187370/apple-watch-to-be-sold-at-best-buy-on-aug-7#post_2752905"]Watch sales must be healthy if best buy wants in. So there's that.[/quote] Yeah I wonder if this will shut up the Apple Watch is Doomed™ crowd. My guess is no. They'll just find some other data point to prove its failure.
There probably will be a special Apple Section with Apple Watches, iPhones, and Macs. They will be manned by staff who may be Apple employees rather than Best Buy employees.
Can you use ApplePay to pay for it at Best Buy?