iPad 2 Coming to RadioShack Tomorrow?
A MacRumors reader has just sent us the above photo claimed to be of an internal notice from RadioShack announcing that the retailer will begin carrying the iPad 2 at 500 of its locations around the United States as of tomorrow.
Context & Ripple Effects
The claim arrives unconfirmed — a single reader-supplied photo of an internal notice, so treat the 500-store rollout as rumored until RadioShack or Apple says otherwise. What makes it plausible is RadioShack's track record with Apple products: the chain began carrying the iPhone in the Dallas-Fort Worth and New York City markets in late 2009, expanded nationally in 2010, and ran a limited-time $50 discount on iPhone 4 and 3GS units that December.
It also fits the shape of the iPad 2 launch itself. Reports through February had Apple aiming for near-immediate availability after the announcement rather than a long gap between unveiling and shelf date, and some European retailers were already selling the original iPad ahead of the iPad 2 while others sold out — signs that Apple was pushing volume through non-Apple Store channels faster than with the first generation.
First-order effects
- If the notice is accurate, 500 RadioShack locations become same-week Apple points of sale during a period when iPad 2 stock has been the constraint — RadioShack gains launch-window traffic without bearing product-development risk.
- Apple widens physical distribution overnight by hundreds of doors, easing queue pressure on its own stores and carrier partners.
Second-order effects
- Rival general-electronics chains face pressure to match the assortment or lose the walk-in tablet shopper, echoing how competitors responded once RadioShack proved out its iPhone playbook in 2009–2010.
- RadioShack can extend its proven accessory-and-discount attach model — the lever behind its December $50 iPhone promotion — to Smart Covers and related iPad peripherals.
Third-order effects
- If Apple keeps seeding national electronics chains at launch rather than rationing to its own retail footprint, tablet availability becomes a baseline expectation for any mass-market retailer — and a survival input for legacy chains whose traffic depends on carrying the category leader.
- A pattern of leaked internal notices as the disclosure channel would keep Apple's channel expansion effectively announced through its partners' employees rather than its own press operations.
The trend: Apple's post-PC hardware is moving from Apple Stores and carriers into broad national retail chains, with each iPad cycle adding more third-party doors at launch.