This is priceless.
While they were fueled in part by a comment in The Wall Street Journal that was attributed to me, they are not an accurate depiction of what we’re currently seeing. In fact, we see some shifts in consumption patterns, with tablet sales being an incremental opportunity. And as we said during our recent earnings call, we believe that computers will remain a very popular gift this holiday because of the very distinct and desirable benefits they offer consumers. That’s why we intend to carry a broad selection of computing products and accessories, to address the demand we anticipate this season.
So, this is, of course, based on Dunn’s comments that the iPad was cannibalizing netbook sales by as much as 50%. First, whatever. Lest we forget that a computer is a computer and a netbook is a crappy computer. You get what you pay for.
The CEO doesn’t come out with a retraction like this without being hounded by stakeholders. Somewhere, down some dark hallway in the darkened executive corridors of Best Buy corporate, a VP of PR ran with hair ablaze to remind the CEO whom he actually serves: the manufacturers who shell their products. You think HP was happy for the press that Best Buy just gave netbooks? Acer? Asus? Not likely.
As a side not, based on my rigorous empirical research, I’m sitting in the audience a WordCamp Portland with about 150 developers. Based on the rough count in the room, seems like it’s broken up one third pen and paper, one third MacBooks and PCs, one third iPads. That feels notable to me.