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apple
Best Buy agrees to sell iPhone
Electronics retailer Best Buy will begin selling Apple's iPhone 3G next month. Until now, only Apple Stores and AT&T outlets carried the phone. Like Apple Store customers, Best Buy shoppers must sign a two-year AT&T contract to leave the store with an iPhone. [WSJ]
layoffs
Inside the BitTorrent collapse
BitTorrent has denied our report that the company laid off 12 out of 55 employees. That may be true: While our source told us 12 employees were on the layoff list, we've learned that, at the last minute, the jobs of two sales engineers, an HR manager, and an office manager were spared. Another tipster — "you can guess as to whether I'm an insider or not" — says that the BitTorrent layoffs aren't the fault of new CEO Doug Walker, who came to the those-crazy-kids file-sharing startup to add some enterprise-software gravitas. Instead, the elimination of BitTorrent's sales and marketing departments amounts to a coup by cofounders Bram Cohen and Ashwin Navin, pictured here to Walker's right and left, who are giving up on the notion of marketing BitTorrent's file-sharing technology to businesses and hardware makers, and instead pinning their hopes on becoming an "Internet peace corps." More »
3:40 PM on Thu Aug 7 2008
By Owen Thomas
2,463 views,
10 comments
Latest by n/a: BitTorrent's "VP of Sales" and "VP of Marketing & BizDev" were fired a few weeks ago. Why are they still more »
exclusive
BitTorrent Inc. laying off 12 of 55 employees
BitTorrent Inc., the file-sharing startup whose underlying technology is responsible for much of the piracy that plagues Hollywood, is laying off its sales and marketing department. The immediate cause of the layoffs: A failure to sell the Torrent Entertainment Network, BitTorrent's attempt at an online media store, to Best Buy for a rumored $15 million. That deal fell apart, a BitTorrent insider believes, because of a recent FCC ruling on file sharing. CEO Doug Walker, who replaced troubled founder Bram Cohen last fall, had hinted at a rethink of the store in March. Walker's also said to be rethinking BitTorrent's "DNA" service, which sought to offer businesses a cut-rate online content-deliver service, using file-sharing technology to undercut Limelight and Akamai's prices. BitTorrent is now thinking about making the service free, which would certainly count as "cut-rate" — but also suggests that it hadn't had much success selling it.
great moments in pr
Getting the "Sex" date you never wanted with the Geek Squad
Trying to download the Sex and the City movie last night, I had to wonder, When is a torrent site more comfort than a Cosmo? If you can't fulfill your Sex-seeking ladylove's needs with some unpacked .rar files, I understand. So does Best Buy's Geek Squad, which is offering rescue packages composed of quarters and excuses for men who don't want to lose quality videogame time to the premiere of the world's most commercially viable feature-length shoe porn. Geek Squad has it only half-right: Why not save your quarters and hire a girl to be professional company at the multiplex — for your girlfriend? (Photo: Daniella Zalcman)
obituary
Best Buy's Geek Squad celebrates death of noted pedophile Arthur C. Clarke tonight
Best Buy's Geek Squad is holding a memorial tonight to honor Arthur C. Clarke. Alas. Everyone was far too polite to say this about the recently deceased sci-fi writer: Had he lived in the U.S. rather than Sri Lanka, he'd be a prime membership candidate for the North American Man-Boy Love Association. "Once they have reached the age of puberty, it is OK... It doesn't do any harm," Clarke told the U.K.'s Sunday Mirror in 1998. More or less exiled from Britain over his underage affairs, he continued to pursue them in the South Asian island nation. Authorities there turned a blind eye. This is all well known among the more sophisticated realms of fandom — but not, apparently, Best Buy headquarters in South Richfield, Minn. At 8:01 p.m., every Geek Squad repairman will pause to think reverently of a champion of child abuse. The press release: More »
Apple is now the second largest music retailer, beating Best Buy, in the United States. NPD Group, the market-research firm which tracks sales, estimates 12 single-song downloads as an album. Why don't they just count revenues? That would be easier. [BusinessWeek]
digital tv
Best Buy caught engaging in act of capitalism
Sales clerks at a number of TV retailers in Massachusetts gave inaccurate information regarding the upcoming analog-to-digital television conversion. Imagine that: Sales clerks giving inaccurate information! The switch will require users of older televisions to purchase a basic set-top box partially subsidized by the government, but does not require viewers to buy a new TV. Eric Bourassa, a consumer advocate with MassPIRG, which commissioned the study, says "retailers should do a better job training their staff so that going forward, consumers that go into the stores can get the right information." More »
breakdowns
Best Buy loses woman's laptop, gets sued for $54 million
Raelyn Campbell wants $54 million from Best Buy. She bought a $1,100 laptop and a $300 warranty for it from Best Buy in 2006. The next May, the laptop's on/off switch broke and Campbell brought it into the store for repairs. The store told her she'd have it back in two to six weeks. That didn't happen. More »
Sprint Nextel has revived serious discussions with startup Clearwire to form a joint venture that would bring in funding from the likes of Intel, Google and Best Buy to build a high-speed wireless network using WiMax technology. [WSJ]
Best Buy's quarterly profit stormed up 52 percent because of strong sales and fewer discounts than last year. Margin benefited from the "more rational" environment. Same-store sales climbed 6.7 percent. [WSJ]
retail
Those Brits really have a way with words. The witty writers at British IT rag The Register summed it up so well: "CompUSA goes tits up." The computer retailer, which closed a number of stores earlier this year (including one half a mile from my house, natch), has sold itself to Gordon Brothers, a "restructuring specialist" which plans to close CompUSA's remaining 103 locations. The stores will run through Christmas and offer "attractive bargains" to shoppers. CompUSA.com will be closed once current purchases are shipped. This, folks, is why they call Best Buy a "category killer." (Photo by cubicleman)
CompUSA packs it in
Those Brits really have a way with words. The witty writers at British IT rag The Register summed it up so well: "CompUSA goes tits up." The computer retailer, which closed a number of stores earlier this year (including one half a mile from my house, natch), has sold itself to Gordon Brothers, a "restructuring specialist" which plans to close CompUSA's remaining 103 locations. The stores will run through Christmas and offer "attractive bargains" to shoppers. CompUSA.com will be closed once current purchases are shipped. This, folks, is why they call Best Buy a "category killer." (Photo by cubicleman)
Microsoft and Best Buy are liable for subscribing the retailer's customers to Microsoft's Internet service, MSN, without consent, the Supreme Court ruled today by overturning a lower court's ruling on an appeal. One question the Supremes should have asked: "Who in their right mind subscribes to dialup anymore?" [AP]
