Apparently this offer is being circulated around in a Best Buy catalog. Interscope Records and Best Buy have partnered on a promotion where buying a copy will allow you to have a copy of TweetDeck for free. The funny part of the promotion is that TweetDeck is free anyway.
However this is no ordinary version of TweetDeck. The version that you get from buying a CD has a custom version that automatically follows 16 Interscope artists. Either way you can follow those artists yourself for free anyway. Interestingly Best Buy had a website up for the promotion which was Bestbuy.com/Tweetdeck but now it is offline. Was Best Buy embarrassed about the campaign? Very likely.
I was able to grab a screenshot of the website before it went offline. TweetDeck is highlighted in the screenshot because I used Google to search for “Best Buy” and “TweetDeck.”
Best Buy Mobile announced that they are pre-selling the Verizon DROID today. The phone will be available on November 6. The DROID is the first phone on Verizon to run on the Google Android operating system. By ordering the phone through Best Buy, customers are able to avoid mail-in rebates and instant savings. Best Buy is selling the phone for $199.99 with 2 year activation.
“We’re excited to feature this new device for our consumers, as it represents the latest and greatest in mobile technology,” stated Best Buy Mobile President Shawn Score in a press release. “Bringing the DROID to Best Buy Mobile expands our already unmatched assortment of smartphones allowing customers to compare high-end devices like the iPhone 3GS, HTC Hero and DROID all under one roof. The fact that customers can purchase the phone first at Best Buy through the pre-sell is an added bonus.”
The DROID has a 3.7″ screen, 5 MP camera with autofocus and image stabilization. The camera also has dual-LED flash and DVD-quality video. The DROID is the first phone to have Google Maps Navigation.
iRex Technologies, Verizon, and Best Buy have made a partnership. Best Buy will sell the iRex DR800SG in their stores with unlimited Verizon 3G data speeds. The DR800SG will cost $399 and have an 8.1″ touchscreen.
E-books will be downloaded from the Barnes & Noble online store. The e-bookstore also has 1,100 newspapers from Newspaper Direct. The 3G connection is powered by Qualcomm Gobi radio technology. Best Buy will be selling the DR800SG next month. The e-book reader also comes with a stylus as pictured above.
As many of you know by now, our friendly rivals at TechCrunch are building a new electronic tablet called the Crunchpad, slated to be released by this November. Apparently Best Buy Chief Marketing Officer Barry Judge got a chance to play around with the prototype.
Judge tweeted “Just met chief blogger at Tech Crunch. Talked about the Crunchpad and saw a prototype. Great looking device, think it will be a real hit.” This just tells me a couple of things. The Crunchpad may actually have a chance against a rumored upcoming Apple tablet computer. And this also tells me that Best Buy seems to be a bigger fan of TechCrunch than he is with Gizmodo.
An hour before Judge tweeted meeting Arrington, he tweeted that he met YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley to discuss ways to better leverage the video website. He also asked his followers for ideas on what other retailers do to use YouTube well. Here’s my two word answer for Judge: viral videos. The Improv Everywhere group hit over one million views in their viral video of sending a bunch of blue shirt, khaki wearing agents into a Best Buy store.
Earlier today, everyone was talking about about a possible Pre price drop. A picture surfaced of a $99 Palm Pre at Best Buy. It looked like an out the door price and did not involve any kind of rebate.
Best Buy had not releases a statement about the price drop so it was unknown whether the drop is simply a promotion or if it permanent.
John Bernier, Best Buy’s Marketing Manager cleared up the issue via Twitter. He said it was a human error and that the price is still $199.
If the price drop were real, this would be bad news for Palm. The Pre launched less than two months ago. A price drop this fast would mean that Palm sales are not strong at its current price point.
A few days ago, Gizmodo blogger Adam Frucci wrote a post called the Seven Types of Employees You Meet at Best Buy. The seven types of employees include car audio thug, marginally cute customer service girl, grizzled old home theater/computer sales lifer, pervy Geek Squad guy, sad department manager, slick careerist manager, and terrifying loss-prevention guy. This blog post got the attention of some of Best Buy’s top brass because the Best Buy CMO Barry Judge retaliated to the blog post.
Below is an excerpt from Judge’s blog:
“We couldn’t resist taking a stab at classifying the seven types of Gizmodo bloggers, but then we realized there’s really only one type of Gizmodo blogger. Here’s that description:
You’ll find this guy on his couch, sporting an ironic t-shirt with a delivery-food stain of some kind. He ‘commuted’ minutes earlier by rolling out of bed and over to his laptop in his shoebox-sized Brooklyn (Williamsburg) apartment littered with empty Redbull cans. He came to Gizmodo 9 months ago after deciding that “traditional media” wasn’t edgy enough (read: required pants and didn’t like it when he powered down walls of TVs). He only puts on pants in order to put electronics down them, and he gets very upset if you mess with his Star Wars legos. He genuinely believes that the hot PR girl is into him and not just trying to get a post. He overuses the word ‘fail.’”
Bad news for GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) because Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) will be installing game kiosks for used and new video games. The pilot kiosks will be opening up in Dallas and Austin, Texas. GameStop is based in Grapevine, Texas.
Machines at the kiosks will take your used video games and make sure that they are functional. After that it will give you a Best Buy gift card so you can go and spend more money at the retail stores. The pilot is being tested because most used game returns usually go back into buying new games.
Good news for those of you that want the Palm Pre but don’t want to get locked into a 2 year Sprint contract. The phone without a contract costs about $549. The phone will be arriving on June 6 for $199 with a two year contract with a $100 mail-in rebate if you buy it from a Sprint store.
However representatives at Best Buy and Radio Shack have confirmed that buying the phone from their stores will allow you to avoid mailing in that pesky $100 rebate yourself. At those stores the rebates will be instant.
In conclusion, I recommend that if you are going to buy a Pre, get it from Best Buy or Radio Shack. But if you return it to Radio Shack later on, make sure not to get punched.
Apparently this offer is being circulated around in a Best Buy catalog. Interscope Records and Best Buy have partnered on a promotion where buying a copy will allow you to have a copy of TweetDeck for free. The funny part of the promotion is that TweetDeck is free anyway. 
