In a move which will increase the foothold of Apple further in the smart phone, Best Buy has become the first independent retailer of Apple iPhone 3G. Best Buy will start selling Apple iPhone from next month only (September 7) through its stores across the USA. They have around 965 stores out which iPhone will be retailed in around 600 stores. Best Buy wont sell the product in areas where At&T soesn’t offer its services.

The move is aimed at fulfilling the target of selling 10 million iPhones in year 2008. The company has reportedly sold around 3 million units since the launch of Apple iPhone on July 11. Best Buy also resell Apple’s Mac computers and iPod media players while its parent company CarPhone Warehouse owns the right to sell iPhones in UK and the long term relationship between the two companies (and CarPhone Warehouse) might have given Best Buy an inside tract. The mobile retailing market is mainly dictated by the the network carriers in USA but Best Buy has been able to garner a market share of 3.6 percent from 2 percent last year.

It however doesn’t mean that you can buy iPhone without any strings attached (say AT&T service). You are still supposed to buy the iPhone along with AT&T service which some people find expensive. I am however waiting for the iPhone launch in India on 22 of this month.

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