Cnet’s Ina Fried reported on Wednesday that Apple has confirmed plans to begin a pilot retail program with national electronics reseller Best Buy.
The pilot program begins in early August, according to the statement from Apple, which also confirmed that Apple sales reps will ‘help enhance the customer buying experience’ at these locations. Apple did not disclose the specific store locations where this pilot program will take place. It did say that the progress of the program would be reviewed in the weeks ahead, however.
Best Buy is no stranger to the Mac. The company sold iMac systems at one point, but later stopped. More recently, the company has been reselling Apple’s iPod — a hot retail seller regardless of location. Best Buy began carrying the iPod last fall.
One analyst interviewed by Cnet suggested that Best Buy’s size — the chain has hundreds of locations from coast to coast — would make it prohibitive for Apple to place sales reps at each location. He suspected that Apple will “cherry pick” high-volume stores.
More details about the pilot program were unavailable as MacCentral posted this article.