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Best Buy to carry iPad on April 3 at ASC-stores only
Update: A little birdie flew into TUAW headquarters with the following tidbit. Best Buy stores are receiving 3 sellable SKUs (16, 32, and 64). The fourth SKU is a demo unit. The SKUs are still "invisible" in the system, but can be found if you look hard enough. Deliveries appear to scheduled for Friday, with an overnight to display them before the Saturday release. MacRumors is reporting that Best Buy will be carrying the WiFi iPad at launch on April 3rd. The iPad won't be available at all Best Buy's, however. Only Best Buys with badged Apple Solutions Consultants (ASC) and "Apple Shops" will be carrying the iPads -- that's about 675 stores total. MacRumors reports that Best Buy is listing four SKUs for the iPad and notes that the fourth one may be for one of the 3G models due to launch later in the month. Best Buy stores will not be opening early on launch day and bestbuy.com will not be carrying the iPad. The ASC program was launched in 2001. It placed Apple employees in a handful of CompUSA stores in Texas and Southern California. In the years following, the ASC program grew to over 200 CompUSA stores. During that time, there was an ASC beta program in a limited number of Best Buys, but the Best Buy beta program was deemed unworkable shortly thereafter. However, after the bankruptcy of CompUSA in early 2007, the ASC program did expand into Best Buy again, this time bringing the familiar Apple Retail Store look and feel through "store-within-a-store" Apple Shop sections. [Speaking of iPad orders, we've been hearing for the last 24 hours that pre-order customers are seeing credit card charges for their iPads -- not just the WiFi models, but the 3G+ models as well, which is a little bit early if the 3Gs aren't shipping until late April. –Ed.]
Silicon Mountain gets Allio HTPC-infused HDTV into ten more stores
Troubled by your one and only option for purchasing one of Silicon Mountain's unique Allio HDTVs? No worries -- the company has just landed deals with ten more e-tailers in order to give you a litany of options when it comes time to purchase. Internet mainstays like Amazon, PC Mall, CompUSA, DataVision, TigerDirect and Safari Micro made the cut, all agreeing to offer the PC-in-an-HDTV that was recently loosed upon the unsuspecting public. Time to price compare, kids.
HTC Touch Diamond surfaces at CompUSA
Oh, snap. Just the other day we were bemoaning the fact that the Touch Diamond sent to us courtesy of HTC lacked both HSDPA 850 / 1900 and GSM 850, but according to the product page at CompUSA, the version it's selling has all of those. Yep, a purported quad-band Touch Diamond is seemingly in stock right now for Americans willing to part with $779.99, but remember, all those bills nets you a 2.8-inch VGA display, HSDPA 7.2, Windows Mobile 6.1 and oodles of sexy. Go on, help HTC get one closer to two million this year.[Thanks, Tom]Update: Hey look, UKers can get in too. Just £463.99 including VAT. Thanks Leigh! Update 2: For shame! HTC just pinged us and said this thing is the same as every other Touch Diamond, meaning that North American 3G is not supported.
Best Buy snaps up 17 CompUSA leases
Apparently, not only is CompUSA rising from the dead like a horrific, zombified corpse, but now its guts are getting bought up and replaced by another retail behemoth. According to reports, Best Buy has just paid $13.5 million for 17 CompUSA store leases, ranging in time from three to 14 years and totaling 453,000 square feet. If the nightmare of CompUSA wasn't enough to haunt you in your sleep, the news that its now-defunct locations will be replaced with essentially more of the same should shake you to your very core. We imagine the Best Buy victory rap will be making the rounds again, you can jog your memory after the break.[Thanks, Brian]
CompUSA rises from dead, attacks Florida
CompUSA died a sputtering, inglorious death, but Ohio-based Systemax (which owns TigerDirect) didn't shell out $30M to pick up the pieces for nothing: it's just announced that it's re-opening 15 US stores and opening a new one, 13 of which are in Florida. We're not sure why the Sunshine State faces the brunt of CompUSA's angry zombie wrath -- do retirees enjoy being ripped off?* -- but Texans and Puerto Ricans can join in the fun with four stores of their very own. These are all apparently open now -- anyone brave enough to check out the scene? *Rejected asides: "Is this punishment for that Pitbull record?" "Guess you don't need braiiiiiins to pay these prices!" "Screw you, Mickey!"[Thanks, Steven]
CompUSA employees adopt subtle, dignified method of saying farewell
So you're about to be laid off by your megacorporation that thoroughly mismanaged its position in the market and is giving you the shaft because of it. What's a CompUSA employee to do? We'd say adding your own photos to LCD product shots on the online store is as good a way as any. [Thanks, Roberto G]
Systemax salvages CompUSA brand, website, and up to 16 stores
We're not sure how many people will be relieved by this news, but the few die-hard CompUSA fans out there can rest easy tonight, as the big box retailer will continue to live on as a ward of Ohio-based Systemax. According to Reuters, the TigerDirect owner will shell out around $30 million for the CompUSA brand, trademarks, e-tail business, and as many as 16 brick-and-mortar retail locations, although the particular sites have not yet been chosen. The acquisition -- which comes just a month after the company was sold to liquidation firm Gordon Brothers Group -- was justified by Systemax CEO Richard Leeds as being a good match for its Tiger Direct operation because he believes "the value of the CompUSA brand remains very high."[Thanks, Quentin]
Burnout CompUSA ad blunder
CompUSA ... what can we say about you and your business practices? You're such a silly company, especially when it comes to your marketing. Last week news broke that all of your CompUSA stores were closing and that you were liquidating all your merchandise because your financials weren't in order. And now we're coming to an understanding of why. It's because you spent your entire 2007 marketing budget on a Burnout Paradise in-game ad. The CompUSA billboard ad can be seen in the Paradise demo and everytime we drive by one we can't help but chuckle to ourselves. Maybe you should ask EA for some of your money back since your stores don't really exist anymore or at the very least get them to change the graphic to read something like "liquidation sale going on now!" Silly CompUSA.[Thanks, Blake Rampton]
Poll: How will the CompUSA closings affect you as an Apple user
Loyal TUAW reader Mike Schleifstein wrote in on our tip line with a thoughtful commentary about the CompUSA closings. Losing CompUSA means losing local Apple Certified Repair centers for a large segment of the United States without access to Apple Stores. More, without the brick and mortar CompUSA stores, many potential customers will not be to try out Apple products in person or buy Mac software at a real store. We decided to ask you, our readership, how the CompUSA closings will affect you. Here's an Amazon Unspun poll that you can expand and add your own feedback to. I'm curious to see how these closings will affect the TUAW community as a whole.
CompUSA sends out layoff letters: bad service extends to employees, too
Would you check out this layoff slip CompUSA sent around? We know we shouldn't expect their director of HR to get all blubbery or anything, but it's like the corporation really is as soulless as it gets credit for. Like, you're really going to sit in your office in Texas and write a hundred word letter that instantly puts thousands of people out of a job, and the best you can do is "We thank you for your service to CompUSA, Inc."? Thanks for peppering in that "Inc." there, sure it made everyone feel great, but not even a personal anecdote or something? We're actually a little surprised they didn't finish it off with "and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." Man, even in the throes of death CompUSA treats people like garbage.P.S. -Upshot to the vultures in the audience, liquidation is beginning within the next week or two at certain stores, so keep an eye out for going-out-of-business carrion.[Thanks, CompUSA Employee]
RIP, CompUSA: 1984 - 2008
Days after we first reported that CompUSA could be shutting down for good very, very soon, the WSJ everybody is reporting that the beleaguered big box retailer has been sold to Gordon Brothers Group for liquidation, which will occur shortly after the holidays. Somehow we don't think it'll be too missed, but Carlos Slim's in some pain today -- we didn't realize dude put $2 billion into the chain since the late 90s. Check out the Best Buy victory rap after the break.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Rumor: CompUSA going out of business in January
So we've heard enough banter about CompUSA being on its last legs and possibly shuttering completely after closing more than half the chain's stores earlier this year. Well, chalk this up to rumor (in fact, rumor with prejudice if you must), but we're privy to a high-level internal email competitor Best Buy recently circulated which claims to have it on authority (but not "verified") that CompUSA's holiday revenue is half what it was last year (which, as commenter Hans points out, might have to do with those store closures), store-restocking shipments are not being scheduled past February, and additional liquidators are being called in to help manage closure of the 103 remaining stores. Sure, it could be a sneaky misinformation campaign -- or it could be the truth. We gave CompUSA a ring, and their PR team has yet to respond to the claim; but for what it's worth, if we weren't already hearing this kind of thing elsewhere (or didn't believe it plausible) we wouldn't waste your time.
HTC's Advantage X7501 lands at CompUSA website
You knew this beauty was coming, and you've even had ample time to stare it down and get acquainted, but now you can get that mousing finger ready as the HTC Advantage X7501 has snuck onto CompUSA's website. Currently listed as "Coming Soon," the sale page doesn't lend any hints as to when it'll actually be available to purchase, but we are assured that it'll run $899.99 whenever that time does come. As expected, it'll come pre-loaded with Windows Mobile 6 Standard, a 624MHz CPU, built-in 8GB hard drive, miniSD expansion slot, integrated GPS, Bluetooth / WiFi, a three-megapixel camera, TV / VGA outputs, and just about everything else you'd need in a UMPC / cellphone hybrid. Hold tight folks, it's almost here.[Thanks, Naval]
History of the Apple Store
Just in time for the iPhone crowds and media to descend on Apple stores around the country, SiliconUser has a quick little history of how Apple's famous retail space came to be. It all started back in 19-aught-7, when Mr. Stevonious Jobsenheimer first opened the Apple Computing Salon and General Store in little Border Junction, Wyoming...No, only kidding. In 1996 when Jobs came back to Apple, they were struggling to come up with a good way to sell their computers at retail, and after a few bumpy years with store-within-a-stores at CompUSA, they set up a warehouse in Cupertino and went to work designing a real live Apple experience. The first try was apparently based on Apple's product matrix (and caused Jobs to famously say, "Oh God, we're screwed"), but eventually they came up with what we know today-- bright, open spaces with stations that encouraged visitors to use and play with the products. Strangely enough, SiliconUser points out that they are very much like Gap stores, which both disturbs and awes me at the same time.So when you're standing outside your local Apple store Thursday at midnight while it rains and you stare at the growing-even-more- obsolete- than-it-already-is Treo 650 only to look up at the dry and warm Apple store and the glorious iPhones that lie inside behind the glass, just remember the good folks that designed it all for you. The money they were paid made it worth it, but the irresistible spending draw you feel while walking by is just the icing on the cake.
CompUSA sells an empty Canon A630 box for $269, won't issue refund
CompUSA has been trying to turn itself around for a while now -- it closed a ton of stores earlier this year and has generally been pretty aggressive in trying to cut costs. No matter how bad things get, though, sometimes a company's gotta bite the bullet and do the right thing by its customers, and it looks like the $269 CompUSA is holding back from Texas consultant Terry Heaton might end up costing it a lot more than it anticipated. Seems as though Terry purchased what he thought was a Canon A630 from one of the stores CompUSA was closing back in March, but when his step-daughter opened the box a few weeks ago, it was empty. Assuming he'd get a refund, Terry drove to the nearest CompUSA, where he was told that all liquidation sales were handled by a third party and not CompUSA, and that he would have to contact CompUSA's attorneys to secure a refund. Undaunted, Terry then wrote a letter to CompUSA's CEO, whose "Executive Care" assistant replied and said that Terry should have been more careful to inspect the box when he purchased the camera, and that the prominent ALL SALES ARE FINAL signs around the store and on the receipt weren't just for show. That's pretty callous, if you ask us -- while we're always extra-careful when we buy clearance items, we can't imagine CompUSA (or its liquidators) knowingly marked an empty box with a $269 price tag, and we can't imagine seeing that price and thinking the box might be empty. So come on, CompUSA -- let's see some customer friggin service, okay?[Via LostRemote, thanks, James]Update: Heaton got his cash back! Well, in the form of a gift certificate, which kind of sucks, but still, we're glad for him.
Deal of the Day: 20% off PSP accessories
PSP has more than enough accessories: from speakers, to cases, to wifi adaptors, and more. Well, now's your chance to go on a shopping spree. CompUSA is having a 20% sale on all PSP accessories. Sale ends tomorrow, so if you want to take advantage of these deals, you'll have to act pretty quickly.[Via CAG]
Rumors: CompUSA pulls Mac Pros
Are new Mac Pros on the way? That's what JackSYi, a poster over at the MacRumors forums, seems to think. He writes that CompUSA just placed their Mac Pro inventory as "D status", which I'm guessing means "discontinued", in anticipation of new models arriving next week. He says that all Mac Pros, including demo models, are being pulled off the shelves to make room for the new inventory. If true, what do you readers think the refreshed specs will be? Or do you think this is all malarkey? Let us know in the comments.Update: Since this post was written, JackSYi has posted again over at MacRumors saying that the memo was read wrong and the Mac Pros aren't being discontinued. Thanks Mark.
How to sell a Zune: Give away an iPod gift card
Here's a chuckle from the forums over at MacRumors. Poster GFLPraxis, who works at the Spokane CompUSA, scanned this advertisement tag for the new Zune special. For only $249.99, you'll not only get a spankin' new Zune but also a $15 iTunes Gift Card. Now that's an inducement to buy the Zune! If only Apple would license FairPlay. Although these tags should reflect what's printed in the circulated advertisements, this one didn't quite match. It was caught by the store manager, who passed it around the store for laughs. Click the image to enlarge it.
LG BH100 HD DVD / Blu-ray hybrid player in the wild and on sale
Whoa, that was quick. The story of LG's BH100 has moved from myth to reality quicker than some companies can even craft a marketing campaign, and astoundingly enough, the hybrid HD DVD / Blu-ray player has not only been captured on camera, but it's available for sale. You read right, LG's $1,199 harmony machine is apparently already leaking into a few CompUSA locations, and although we didn't know how its inability to play back HDi would effect the release status, we're now seeing that it beat the February 4th presumptions by a solid two weeks, and although it clearly lacks an "official" HD DVD logo, it seemed to handle The Hulk just fine. So if you just can't hold back your desire for a two-faced player any longer, and can track down a stocked CompUSA location, you can pick up your very own BH100 starting today. Click on through for a few more sneak peeks, and be sure to hit the read link for the full skinny.[Via CNET]
CompUSA offering PS3s with Sony HDTV purchases
We know it's been a rough couple of nights for you folks who didn't get your pre-order on (or got the shaft, even so) trying to hunt down a Playstation 3 without becoming the hunted, but there's an off chance that CompUSA may still be able to save your sanity. If 48 (or more) hours of sleeplessness has you ready to drop an inconceivable amount of cash to secure your machine through eBay, hold tight. Certain CompUSA locations will be bundling Playstation 3 units with any Sony HDTV purchase of 40-inches or larger, which could be fabulous news if you were planning on picking up a svelte new set (or dropping $2,000 in some entrepreneur's pocket) anyway. Currently, the lowest priced display compatible with the offer is Sony's $1,999 KDL-40S2010, which means that you'd be ponying up nearly $2,500 for the 20GB PS3 kit, or $2,600 for the 60GB package. Representatives have stated that some stores are "devoting their entire PS3 allocation" to the offer, which isn't exactly surprising considering last year's Xbox 360 bundle fiascoes. Regardless, for gamers looking to go all out, this may not be such an awful idea (especially if they end up including Wiis), but we're not sure if this offer will last past the (admittedly scant) first wave of shipments -- but hey, it sure beats getting shot up or beat down while squandering vacation days, right?[Via GameSpot]
