Best Buy's ConnectedLife One-Ups Geek Squad 113
Retail writes "Best Buy is going to sell a packaged solution of Media Center plus home automation. Literally, it's a package — a box. A customer walks into a Best Buy store, delights in the demo, buys the package, and waits for its arrival in a big box about four-foot square. The package costs $15,000. For that you get a Media Center PC, Lifeware automation software from Exceptional Innovation, an Xbox 360, IP surveillance cameras, automated light switches, a thermostat and installation. It's a complicated business model, called ConnectedLife.Home, and it's bound to pit the new group against other Best Buy factions like Geek Squad."
services (Score:1, Insightful)
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Just wondering (Score:5, Funny)
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but for the low low interest of
$15k (Score:5, Funny)
Like most Best Buy customers, I should be able to afford this package. At $15,000 it's a steal, really.
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Everyone who works there has to remember them.
I imagine... (Score:3, Funny)
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Dualing Factions! (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, imagine the mêlée at the company picnics.
[unsure whether to tag this "biz" "automation" "slownewsday" or "slashertizement"]
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Doing the same thing to my house (Score:3, Interesting)
Tom
Not that geeky... (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm doing it myself because I'm a geek (saying that while posting on
So you're going to buy essentially premade stuff and install it using the constraints given to you by the makers of the software. Can't think of a more un-geeklike way of going about it. Using Vis
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Not that geeky, but rational (Score:1)
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If designing on a budget at the expense of quality and functionality is a geek requirement then I guess I'm not a geek. But maybe I am a geek since I haven't ripped out all this X10 crap yet and rep
The Target Market is Clear (Score:3, Funny)
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Marketing Hype (Score:1, Insightful)
Expect more from your press release aggregators.
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Using Microsoft software ? (Score:5, Funny)
And do you have to reboot it every night ?
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Reboots are Highly Overrated! (Score:1)
Then the sales person will ask... (Score:2)
It's an exercise for the reader to determine what happens next.
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"For an extra $3000, I'll sell you this little blue button to get you down."
Another best buy qualified employee? (Score:2, Interesting)
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Two dimensional box? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Thankfully... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Thankfully... (Score:4, Funny)
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MIR (Score:1)
If there was a rebate on the package in question, it would make the in-store price actually higher and you would have to get reimbursed for the balance. So if the advertised price is $15000, then if there were rebates the in-store price would be about 5-15% higher an
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Some places that were heavily into rebates are starting to get away from them, BestBuy is one that is moving away. IMHO, those companies just starting will eventually learn what the others before them now know. There are some short term benefits for the retailers but for the long haul, consumers get used to it across the similar stores selling the similar products with similar rebates and then the consumers finally get frustrated enough and move along.
An example
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If you prefer bliss to knowledge, that's your business.
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As I understand it, in the perfect world, manufacturers offer either the retailer or the consumer money back for items they already negotiated terms on for stock that is not moving well. An example, BestBuy purchases 1000 model X washing machines. After 2 months only 5 are sold. An agreement is worked out between themselves to stimul
SALE!! (Score:1)
Survey SAYS... (Score:5, Informative)
For that you get a Media Center PC
Averages around $900 [prostores.com], but they use the HP z560 [circuitcity.com] at $1800...
Lifeware automation software from Exceptional Innovation
This one took some work. The closest I could get to a price, $5000 [cepro.com], includes hardware. But it puts us at an upper limit, at least.
an Xbox 360
The easiest to find, at $400 [amazon.com]
IP surveillance cameras
They use a pair of Panasonics (not sure of the model number), around $380 [newegg.com] each.
automated light switches
FTA: "five dimmers, five switches, two keypads". Home Depot [homedepot.com], $80.
a thermostat
Again, no model number given, but the standard model [asihome.com] goes for $270
and installation.
Not really - They want you to have the "hard" parts done yourself, by a privately contracted licensed electrician.
The package costs $15,000.
Total so far, $8310 (not counting your own electrician).
So, not counting needing to hire your own electrician, that puts the cost of their installation at roughly
I've made some pretty damned good wages doing contract work, but over $6k for less than a day's work? Wow, talk about a dream job...
Anyone that wants this system - Hunt me down for contact info. I'll do it for a third less (you pay airfair outside the continental US, and though I know how to work safely with home AC systems , you'll probably still need a licensed electrician to do this legally in most places).
Marketing Insight (Score:1)
Moreover, note how the package is named... it's definitely a name that'd reach out to their preferred latter-type marketing audience.
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Best not to forget the legions of crusty old-timer geeks who are confused why anyone would need anything more than an on/off light switch and a VCR.
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I don't think this will be a successful product. For $15k, I expect everything to be handled for me, including the electrical done by a properly licensed electrician. I think you could find an electrician to do this for a few hundred bucks, so why don't they simply add one to their crew?
If I'm goi
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Yes, all the pictures show a sweet widescreen plasma TV... But not always the same one, and the list of items that comes in this 15k package does NOT include a TV (if you have a more comprehensive list, please provide a link?).
So sure, the buyer might want to add an
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So, not counting needing to hire your own electrician, that puts the cost of their installation at roughly
It is, if you ignore overheads, profit, cost of capital...
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What a strange procedure to put customers through. (Score:4, Funny)
Thud! (Score:2)
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Pricing (Score:4, Insightful)
That adds up to $4,244. They want $15,000 for this gear, installed. What's wrong with this picture?
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Misleading story and description (Score:5, Insightful)
This isn't a story. Stop selling ad space in our stories, OSTG. You've got them everywhere else.
Right (Score:2)
Kind of like how the new Ferrari dealership is going to compete against the Toyota dealership across the street.
Internal competition (Score:1)
Too pricey for no automation (Score:1)
So, what is home automation? Every day your coffee maker turns on at 6AM. Your computer speaks the weather report and the daily headlines. Can lifeware do that? Lifeware is a fancy MCE interface, that can control your home. But it can't automate your home. I've used HomeSeer [homeseer.com] for almost a year. It's more DIY than this p
By that time (Score:2)
Faction war? (Score:2)
I mean... seriously. Are we talking Geek Squad ninjas with USB cable garrotes engaging in midnight raids on the Home Automation Camp? Stupid VW bugs with silly stickers being turned into car bombs? Windows Media Center cameras recording Geek Squad insurgents?
In other words:
A new low in hype and slashvertisments. Bah.
WTF?!..... (Score:1)
Yeah all in a box... (Score:1)
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if you actually read the headline and byline, you'd know that.
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15K? (Score:2)
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I'd be happy (Score:2)
Idiotic Neiman-Marcus type product (Score:2)
It's one of these crazy but amusing-sounded "products" that sound as if they'd be appropriate for the title character in "Brewster's Millions" (who had to waste $30 million in 30 days in order to inherit $300 million).
They tend to be not-quite-one-of-a-kind items that are nevertheless certainly not mass-produced and frequently inv
Do I need exalted rep? (Score:1)
Exceptional Innovation (Score:1)
IP surveillance - Anyone else read that as... (Score:2)
Keep away from cello playing neighbors (Score:2)
Motorola Homesight (Score:2)
Does anyone know of anything similar? Not X10 but a system that you can drop in wireless devices that report to
four foot on a side, it's a cube ... (Score:2)
A bit silly. Obviously, ways around it (garage, unbox on the street) - but
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The question would be, if the box comes with Cowboyneal inside....
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