Best Buy to expand iPad availability, sales cannibalizing laptops by up to 50%

Here's another report of the iPad stealing attention and money away from more traditional computing. Best Buy's CEO Brian Dunn tells the Wall Street Journal that the iPad has "cannibalized" sales of laptops by up to 50%, meaning that customers in the big box retail store have gone for Apple's tablet rather than a traditional keyboard-and-screen computer. That's pretty astounding, although if you think about the period Best Buy has just been through, with back-to-school students and parents shopping for consumer technology, it's not surprising to think that lots of people would go for a brand-new iPad over a similarly-priced laptop.

Best Buy is also expanding its iPad coverage, bringing the Apple product to all of its over 1,000 U.S. stores by the end of this month. The big retailer is in the midst of a transition, moving away from previously huge libraries of DVDs and CDs and towards consumer electronics and end-user entertainment devices. It's still projecting higher revenues, but one analyst says that Best Buy is really aiming for "tablets, e-readers and probably the higher-end digital cameras."

That means that it makes a lot of sense for them to get in close to Apple and the iPad.

[via MacRumors]