Exclusive Interview: Best Buy CEO Says Tablet Sales Are “Crashing,” Hope for PCs
You said the tablet had “crashed.” Do you believe it’s going away?
Yeah, “crashed” is a strong word. So, the tablets have been an unbelievable phenomenon. I don’t think there’s a category that ever took off so quickly and so big in the history of tech.
The issue has then been that, once you have a tablet of a certain generation, it’s not clear that you have to move on to the next generation.
It’s not even clear at Best Buy that you should buy a tablet.
Has he seen the crap his stores are selling? I was in one just yesterday. The number of craptabs is increasing. Brands no one has ever heard of taking up even more shelf space at sub-$200 and sub-$100 prices. Those things are garbage. Yet Best Buy places them on shelves as examples of what to buy? Where’s the “best” in Best Buy?
This is a company that never carried the HP Slate 8 Pro in store — a tablet that beat the Xiaomi MiPad to market with a high-res screen at 4:3.
I didn’t even see any tablets from LG — even though they carried one months ago.
And this is utterly delusional:
Is Best Buy going to be around in 5 years?
We’ll be around in fifty years. We have a unique role to play for customers.
Fifty years? Not when you’re following the same craptab playbook that sunk J&R!
Previously here:
Mike Cane’s xBlog 