Best Buy sees the future and its mobility. They see mobile wireless and the explosion of mobile broadband as a great opportunity for their business. So much so that they intend to garner 15% of the mobile phone business, which is five times more market share than they currently have. They plan on opening 40 additional Best Buy Mobile retail outlets to help achieve this vision.
Best Buy does have some advantages over the retail wireless operations of carriers – they’re able to offer a multitude of devices, spanning multiple carriers, giving potential customers the ability to compare and contrast devices on a single visit. Best Buy’s timing is no coincidence. There’s a potential explosion of mobile broadband device growth on the horizon, as 3G, WiMAX, and LTE technology enters the mainstream.
Demand for smartphones, netbooks, and mobile Internet devices are already defying the current recessionary impact of the economy. When we exit the recession, could we see even more growth for these devices? Best Buy hopes so. They are not alone either. We’ve outlined WalMart’s telecom prowess in this blog as well. Both retail giants are looking to telecom in general, and wireless specifically, to fuel future growth.
