Best Buy buys half of Carphone Warehouse
GIANT US electronic and electrical goods retailer, Best Buy has bought a half share in the Carphone Warehouse's Retail and Distribution business for some £1.1 billion.
The firm hasn't bought into the Carphone's broadband business, though. The plan is for the two companies to launch a whole bunch of Best Buy shops over Europe starting in 2009.
The pair claim that together they already retail more laptop computers than anyone else. The logic of the deal is plain. The Carphone has to get into laptops anyway in order to capitalise on the booming mobile broadband sector. Which means 3G dongles for laptops.
Plus, it is looking a bit vulnerable having a business that specialises in selling mobile phones. The group has already fallen out with Vodafone, for example.
An indication of just how seriously the top bods are taking this deal can be gauged from the fact that the CPW's Charles Dunstone got his opposite number, Brad Anderson CEO of Best Buy to come to talk to the troops at the CPW's HQ in Acton. µ
Share this:
Business Intelligence Software
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enterprise Accounting Software
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Enterprise Systems Management
Now comes the blue tide to Europe's shores. 

Watch out for the nasty undertow! Crappy service, snoopy computer support staff, and prices that while they say they are the lowest, they are not. I would say keep what you got, because if you buy into WorstBuy you're asking for it.

-signed former BB customer, former employee, and one who resides in the HQ city.
When I was on holiday in London a couple years back I bought a cheap prepaid at the Carphone Warehuse on Oxford Street. The sales associate that helped me was very knowledgeable about their products and was extremely courteous - even going so far as to let me charge the phone under the counter for a few hours while I was sightseeing. This is potentially good news for those of us on this side of the pond, buying a cellphone is generally a terrible experience in North America. Hopefully the teenage sales drones at Best Buy and their managers will learn a thing or two about customer satisfaction from them, and the rest will take the hint.