Best Buy offers exclusive Windows 8 deals, demos
BY MAE ANDERSON Associated Press
Thursday, October 25, 2012
10/25/12 at 3:18 AM
NEW YORK - Confused by Windows 8? Best Buy hopes it can help.
The consumer-electronics retailer is hoping to capitalize on the launch of Windows 8. It's trying to lure customers with exclusive computers and staffers trained to explain and demonstrate the new operating system from Microsoft Corp.
Windows 8 has a new look that's intended to create a seamless experience for users, whether they're on PCs, tablets or smartphones. Featuring a colorful array of tiles that fill the screen instead of the familiar start menu and icons, it's designed especially for touch-sensitive screens. Windows 8 will come pre-installed on almost all new PCs.
Best Buy Co. spent three years coming up with a plan for the launch. That includes two years of developing 45 exclusive Windows 8 computers and laptops designed with manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and AsusTek Computer Inc. Nearly half of those computers feature touch screens. Best Buy will also carry a wide range of non-exclusive Windows products, including tablets and smartphones.
Microsoft's radical remake of Windows arrives at a time when Best Buy is struggling to avoid the fate of Circuit City, which liquidated in 2009. The company hopes the new Windows will spur sales as it faces tough competition from online retailers and discounters. Consumers' tastes are shifting to tablets and smartphones and, at the same time, they increasingly use Best Buy stores to browse for electronics before they buy the items online at lower prices, a practice known as showrooming.
Exclusive products are one way traditional brick-and-mortar stores are battling showrooming.
Another is customer service. To that end, Best Buy spent 50,000 hours training its staff members to show customers the ins and outs of Windows 8, as it's different from its predecessors. Windows 8 is the biggest Windows revamp since Windows 95.
"The demo experience becomes very, very important because of newness of touch feature," said Jason Bonfig, vice president for computing at Best Buy.
Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy's expectations are muted in terms of Best Buy's benefit from the launch. He believes Windows 8 "doesn't solve any of the real issues facing the company," he said.
Original Print Headline: Best Buy betting big on Windows 8
Associated Images:
Computer shoppers read through options and compare prices at a Best Buy in Springfield, Ill. Best Buy is hoping to lure customers with exclusive computers and staffers trained to explain and demonstrate the new Windows 8 from Microsoft Corp. SETH PERLMAN / Associated Press file
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