Best Buy Sells Almost as Many iPhones as Apple Itself

Best Buy is an important sales outlet for Apple, selling almost as many iPhones as Apple does itself, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP).

AllThingsD relays a report based on a survey of iPhone buyers in December, January, and February.

The survey found that 76 percent of iPhones sales were made at retail stores and 24 percent were made online.


According to CIRP's data, Apple sold 15 percent of all iPhones purchased in the U.S. during the period of the survey (retail: 11 percent / online: 4 percent). Meanwhile, AT&T sold 32 percent via it's online and retail stores, Verizon 30 percent - again, online and off, and Sprint 7 percent.

And Best Buy? The big box retailer sold 13 percent, just 2 percent shy of Apple itself.

"Apple Stores and the Apple Web site are tremendously productive, but they are limited by their relatively small retail footprint," CIRP's Josh Lowitz told AllThingsD. "There are 4 times as many Best Buy stores and probably 20 times as many AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint stores, so aggressive distribution through all these channels is critical to Apple's US strategy."

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