Apple TV at Best Buy

Best Buy today announced that the Apple TV, which officially began shipping yesterday, will be available in all 822 of its U.S. stores starting on Tuesday -- two weeks before Apple's estimated March 23rd delivery date. An initial shipment of 3,000 units will limit availability in the brick-and-mortar retailer's giant chain of stores, however, averaging at around five Apple TVs at each Best Buy outlet, according to News.com. The agreement also marks the first time Best Buy will sell an Apple product other than the company's market leading iPod portable media players. At least one industry analyst believes the Apple TV -- which is priced at $299 -- will catch on slowly at first, ramping up sales for the Cupertino-based company as increasing numbers of consumers learn about the device and what it does.

Best Buy retracted an earlier claim that it had an exclusive deal with Apple to offer the units before other retailers, but insisted that it will receive 3,000 Apple TV units and that they will go on sale starting Tuesday.

by MacNN Staff