Filed under: Portables, Rumors, Macbook Pro
File under "Hmmm": Best Buy website down
Maybe this is a coincidence, coming as it does on the eve of a big Apple announcement... it could be meaningless, just regularly scheduled inventory maintenance, the BB version of the yellow sticky note. Sure, that's probably it -- nothing to see here. Yeah. No reason at all to think that Best Buy's website downtime could have anything, really, to do with the anticipated introduction of new Apple laptops tomorrow... right?
As if our conspiracy generators weren't already in full gear: suppose it is related. Could Best Buy be getting an exclusive deal on the $900 laptop outside of Apple's own stores? [Note that many sites are now reporting the "$899 MacBook" may in fact be a Cinema Display.]
Thanks to Horza for the tip
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
mestevo said 1:31AM on 10-14-2008
their site was having problems earlier, throwing all sorts of errors, this is likely emergency maintenance.
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Seth Brundle said 10:14AM on 10-14-2008
As anyone who has developed commercial websites for a living knows, there is no reason other than ineptitude why a website should 'go down' to add a product line - that's an Apple-only marketing gimmick (either that or their site developers are indeed inept).
It works for them (I guess), but for other sites it is just going to result in lost sales every minute the site is down.
Bloobie said 1:42AM on 10-14-2008
Best Buy usually takes down their site at some point in the night for maintenance. At least, that has always been my experience when I needed to look for something on their site in the middle of the night.
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SkwidSpawn said 1:44AM on 10-14-2008
FailBuy?
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Dimplemonkey said 8:38AM on 10-14-2008
WorstPurchase is what I've always called it.
RevDev said 1:49AM on 10-14-2008
Best Buy has recently unveiled their new logo (which, in my opinion, is a total riff off of the new Walmart logo). My bet is that they are launching a new site with the new branding.
http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/best_buys_new_tag.php
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Brian B. said 10:23AM on 10-14-2008
Except the new Wal-Mart logo is absolutely terrible. Best Buy's doesn't look bad, more modern colors than the old one (new blue shirts all around?). Only similarities between the two is the layout, which isn't some sort of revolutionary idea.
Doubt a company like Best Buy could push through an entire corporate rebranding in the time since the Wal-Mart logo was announced.
tyler said 11:02AM on 10-14-2008
Its not an "official" logo, they are just testing it at the new store in the Mall of America.
Also bestbuy.com looks to have updated the site as to where you can compare products and gave parts of the site more of an apple.com-esque look.
Andrew Harrison said 1:49AM on 10-14-2008
Best Buy just did a huge rebranding, I'm not sure if they're rolling it out yet, but perhaps they are updating the site with the new identity?
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Fox said 3:18AM on 10-14-2008
I think this may simply be for their rebranding but I do have something interesting that I just saw while looking over those leaked images of the MacBook Pro.
Look at this pic: http://images.appleinsider.com/macbookpro-081013-2.jpg
On the side of the box (upper-left corner of the pic) there are multicolored shapes...could this be an indication of MacBookchromatic computers (AKA 5 different MacBook Pro colors)? If so, it could be a return to the more personalized look that a colored iBook had.
I guess we'll know tomorrow...
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Mike said 8:06AM on 10-14-2008
Umm that's the iLife logo boss. Please get a life.
m1gu3l said 8:39AM on 10-14-2008
huh? looks like you are not a true apple fan, tsk tsk tsk that's the 09' iLife logo
G Suscryst II said 3:21AM on 10-14-2008
Why on earth do companies like Apple and Best Buy have to take their sites 'down' to add products in the first place? I run a large ecommerce site, and to add new inventory we simply upload an updated catalog (and if necessary pages) and delete any caches. Hey presto, it's online. Are these people technically incompetent, or what?
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takio said 5:00AM on 10-14-2008
of course they have top-notch staff and tech. they just like to amp-up the suspense.
Caltonian said 5:24AM on 10-14-2008
I was of course being facetious suggesting they're not competent. But I'm just amazed if they consider hours offline and not selling to be a worthwhile trade-off for ramping up any drama.
M. Mörk said 4:32AM on 10-14-2008
@Fox
I think that's just the iLife logo...
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DarkHelmet said 5:22AM on 10-14-2008
The message has changed to:
Online Ordering is Temporarily Unavailable
We apologize for the inconvenience. Please check back soon.
In the meantime, you can use the links below to learn about in-store specials and more. To place an order, check the status of an existing order, or with questions, call Customer Care at 1-888-BEST BUY (237-8289).
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matthew said 6:06AM on 10-14-2008
That's their standard nighttime maintenance message, which I've frustratingly encountered many times. Apparently they don't think people shop online at 3am...geez. :)
Ola said 6:41AM on 10-14-2008
wtf, I got a best buy fullscreen-commercial when going to tuaw.com. Please don't tell me you started using that kind of crap on the site now. Please tell me it was an accident. Please tell me I don't have to remove tuaw from my bookmarks.
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jca998 said 7:34AM on 10-14-2008
Macmall is also down.
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