Well played, Best Buy. Well played, indeed.

If the recent purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney changed the harsh way that the Star Wars company has always treated their intellectual property, then Best Buy may be in good shape. Otherwise, as this image continues to go viral, there’s a good chance that they may be hearing from lawyers some time soon. That’s not to say that they didn’t pay for the rights to pull this stunt, but it appears to be a localized advertising attempt and was likely done without permission. Either way, it’s a good showing.

Rhapsody to acquire Napster

Sean Parker has been in the news a few times lately. In this case, his roots at Napster are his only involvement and he isn’t getting much more than a mention as the controversial file-sharing site that helped start the revolution is being acquired from Best Buy by Rhapsody.

The deal, expected to close on November 30, is for an undisclosed amount. It represents the end of the failed Napster experiment by Best Buy; the company bought a newly repurposed Napster in 2008 and subsequently did nothing with it.

Rhapsody will be acquiring the subscribers but also the potential to expand on their subscription-based offering by expanding their own presence to a familiar name.

Best Buy’s Geek Squad to Help EV Owners Get Juice

After teaming up with Mitsubishi and Eaton Corporation, it was clear that Best Buy wanted to be the go-to destination for all tech related to electric vehicles. Already the electronics giant has committed itself to selling electric motorcycles and offering EV charging stations at its stores. Now, the automaker has announced it will sell 240-volt charging stations for the upcoming Ford Focus Electric EV.

“As more people gravitate toward electric-powered transportation, home energy management becomes an important consideration, and Best Buy intends to be actively engaged in providing convenient, easy-to-access solutions from both our retail and service support operations,” said Chad Bell, senior director of New Business Solutions Group at Best Buy.

In addition to selling EV charging stations, Best Buy’s Geek Squad will be able to provide an electrical audit of an EV owner’s home. Then, they’ll schedule an appointment with a master electrician to have the charging station installed. Charging stations will cost $1,499 and will be available nationwide at Best Buy stores.

The Ford Focus Electric will go on sale at the end of the year in select markets. Based on the newly redesigned 2012 Focus, the Focus Electric features a 100-kilowatt electric motor with a 23-kWh battery, capable of producing 123 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque. On a full charge, this EV will be able to cover 100 emissions-free miles.

Ford’s Focus Electric is the Blue Oval’s first all-electric passenger car. Pricing has yet to be announced.

Best Buy Gets With Barnes and Noble to Sell Nook eReader

Best Buy has announced that it will be teaming up with the popular company Barnes & Noble and releasing the Nook ereader next week on April 18, 2010. The Nook will be available in Best Buy stores.

The Nook is similar to the Kindle, which was designed and developed by Amazon.com and has seen major success since it’s debut in 2009. Barnes & Noble describes that using the Nook ereader is a better reading experience. The device has 2GB of storage and holds up to 1,500 eBooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers.

Without the clutter of actually housing the bulky items, readers can browse over one million book titles that are available to order and B & N offer sample eBooks for free. The Nook is small & sleek and completely portable – it has a full-color touchscreen and the E Ink display is easy to read.

According to this article, The Nook is the first e-book reader that is Android-powered. B & N claims to have chosen Android as the Nook’s power source because, “it’s an open platform with a large developer community and that future apps are a possibility.”

The Nook was designed with a 3G wireless connection. B & N initially announced that accessing the Internet would only be possible in their stores but later revealed that the wireless connection would work on other networks.

Check out Best Buy on April 18, 2010 if you are looking to add another eReader to your collection.

[Source: Barnes & Noble]

Well played, Best Buy. Well played, indeed.

Rhapsody to acquire Napster

Best Buy’s Geek Squad to Help EV Owners Get Juice

Best Buy Gets With Barnes and Noble to Sell Nook eReader

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