Best Buy accelerates mobile push amidst struggling sales

Last week, Best Buy Mobile also inked a deal with independent application retailer Handango to bring its smartphone apps to the big-box retail stores across the nation. In March, it launched its apps through European Best Buy Mobile partner Carphone Warehouse, but Best Buy marks its first physical storefront in the US. Through the partnership, customers will get access to Handango’s content catalogue of thousands of business and productivity, entertainment or gaming apps for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Palm and Symbian S60 smartphones. Apps for these devices can be purchased at the point of sale using Best Buy’s in-store digital Mobile Genie kiosk and installed by Best Buy’s staff members. Customers can also purchase the apps after they leave the store through Handango’s custom-branded In-Hand client, downloaded direct to the device.

“We want Best Buy Mobile to be known for helping consumers both chose and use mobile phones,” Moore said. “Smartphones are clearly where the heat is in the market, so we’ve invested a ton of time and money to make sure we have a really strong experience in that space. The first thing was to redesign the store experience to make sure you get that, and we’ve done that. The next frontier is how to help people use their phones better. Applications are the reality that we have to get after. That is where the Handango partnership comes from.”

Best Buy is just at the first stages of its mobile strategy, Moore said, and it plans to continue to follow customers wherever their interests go. Dave Chamberlain, principal wireless analyst at In-Stat, said the retail channel remains more important to the retailer than the operator, but that may change as more non-cell phone devices become available for cellular networks.

“It’s a different retail experience when you walk into Best Buy, because there are a number of different options that you have,” added Bill Hughes, principal analyst at In-Stat. “One advantage they have over a carrier’s retail store, whoever it is, is that they carry laptops, ultra-mobile PCs, mobile Internet devices and cell phones. So a properly trained salesman will listen to the customer and understand what their needs are and be able to make a recommendation from a suite of options.”