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Merrill Lynch: Best Buy to sell Mac mini
January 28, 2005 - 10:52 PST
Best Buy may soon begin to sell Mac minis in at least some of its stores, Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich said in a research note on Friday. Milunovich said that a Best Buy retail manager told him to expect the low-cost Macs in stores by the end of February. The analyst also said that Best Buy's Web site briefly indicated that the Mac mini was coming soon. "The introduction of the new Mac mini could be the catalyst for Best Buy and Apple to team up," Milunovich said. "The new Mac mini has moved the price point down to $499. We believe a limited roll out to select Best Buy stores is logical... Pushing Macs through Best Buy could accelerate the halo effect."
Milunovich noted that Apple and Best Buy did a pilot program of 48 stores last year, but that on the July conference call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer confirmed that the companies had decided not to move beyond the pilot for undisclosed reasons. "Half the 48 stores had Apple-badged employees, which we think resulted in higher sales and made clear that Apple-savvy sales people would be a requirement," Milunovich said. "We venture that the additional cost of dedicated sales people combined with Apple's lower volume of $1,300+ computers made a deal unworkable at that time."
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