Best Buy to Expand Relationship With Apple After Strong Watch Sales

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Earlier this month, Best Buy became the first retailer, outside of official Apple Stores, to make the Apple Watch available to in-store customers. The retailer originally introduced the Watch in 100 select stores around the US, with plans to increase supply to an additional 200 stores by the holiday season. However, sales of the wearable have been so impressive, Best Buy is now looking to offer the Watch in all of their retail stores by the end of the year.Eli Holding Apple Watch Low Res

According to Fortune, the “demand for Apple Watch has been so strong in the stores and online,” Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly told Wall Street analysts on a conference call, that they are looking to make the device available in all 1,050 of their stores by the end of September. Although Apple hasn’t provided numbers for in-store Apple Watch sales, it appears to be selling pretty well.

Best Buy’s new-found relationship with Apple has impressed Joly so much, he is reportedly looking to “deepen the relationship” with the tech giant. Not only is Best Buy rapidly increasing their availability of the Apple Watch and other Apple products, but they’re expanding their in-store displays for phones, laptops, and tablets, as well. Joly also recently confirmed that AppleCare will be available in Best Buy stores starting next quarter (likely immediately following the release of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus).

This move truly shows Apple’s marketplace dominance. The tech giant is not new to developing markets for new products. Years ago, the iPod debuted when most people didn’t know what MP3’s were; it then grew to become the standard in the marketplace. The launch of the iPhone was equally impressive, redefining what a smart phone could be. Apple pierced the landscape developing new products that people didn’t know they needed – until Apple developed them, achieving a stranglehold on the market. The same could be said for the iPad. Now that the Apple Watch has gone ‘mainstream’ with such a strong relationship with one of the biggest electronic retailers in America, one can only speculate – will the Apple Watch become the new global standard, as iPods, iPhones, and iPads have become?

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