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Think Secret reports that Apple will staff Best Buy stores with their own personnel, as the two companies reportedly prep a deal on getting Macs back into the nation-wide retailer. As IGM reported last week, Best Buy has been 'trialling' Mac sales in a select number of its stores for the last 4 weeks. Putting Macs into Best Buy would far exceed the reach available to Apple's Retail Stores. Apple has only 20% as many retail locations as Best Buy. Analysts last week reacted positively to the news, but some expressed doubt over whether Best Buy staff could adequately support sales. The Think Secret report says, quoting Best Buy executives, that only Apple-trained staff will be selling Macs. Analysis: It does indeed sound like Apple is pushing the CompUSA 'store within a store' concept at Best Buy and the response to Macs in the stores has reportedly been favorable. The best bet is that Apple will only sell consumer Macs to begin with – the Mini, MacBook and iMac are naturals. But as some have commented elsewhere, it's probably the accessories market which Best Buy sees as alluring. Adding printers, scanners, iPods and multifunction machines will give them the margin Apple won't. For retailers, 8% isn't enough, but selling customers peripherals and add-ons make the deal worthwhile.
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