Best Buy To Talk You Out Of Verizon iPhone (Which They Won't Have) With A BGR Blog Post
We're now just three weeks away from the launch of the iPhone on Verizon's network (or two weeks if you're already a Verizon customer). There's no question it's going to be a massive seller.
Context & Ripple Effects
The Verizon iPhone has been a two-year arc in this corpus: Business Week reported Verizon preparing for the iPhone back in December 2009, and TechCrunch argued last October that putting the iPad on Verizon's network was a deliberate signpost toward the phone deal. With the launch now roughly three weeks out per the January 8 everything-you-need-to-know roundup, expectations are set for a massive seller.
What changed with this story is the retail angle: Best Buy has confirmed it will NOT have the Verizon iPhone available when it launches, and plans a BGR blog post aimed at talking customers out of buying one. For a chain whose phone business depends on being the alternative to carrier stores, sitting out the biggest handset launch in years — while publicly arguing against the product — is an unusual position.
First-order effects
- Best Buy forfeits launch-window sales on a device widely expected to be a massive seller, ceding that traffic to Apple Stores and Verizon's own retail footprint during the three-week countdown.
- The BGR blog post puts Best Buy on record steering customers away from a product its own shoppers are asking for, creating immediate reputational exposure if the pitch reads as sour grapes over missing inventory.
Second-order effects
- Competing third-party retailers and Verizon resellers that DO stock the device at launch capture Best Buy's would-be upgrade traffic, sharpening the allocation advantage between big-box chains.
- Apple gains leverage in future retail negotiations: a partner that publicly downplays the iPhone demonstrates how dependent accessory-and-plan attach revenue is on having the flagship handset on shelves.
Third-order effects
- If marquee handset launches keep bypassing major retail partners, smartphone distribution consolidates further around carrier stores and manufacturer-owned channels, shrinking the independent retailer's role to accessories and service rather than device sales.
- Using a enthusiast blog like BGR as the vehicle for a retailer's counter-pitch points to tech blogs functioning as a persuasion layer between carriers, retailers, and buyers — influence that previously lived only in advertising.
The trend: Flagship smartphone launches are shifting sales power toward carrier-owned and manufacturer channels, leaving third-party retailers fighting for relevance through narrative as much as inventory.