Target Drops Kindle For Apple Mini Stores…. Wow!

Target has issued a statement confirming rumors that have been developing over the last two days suggesting that they are ending their sales relationship with Amazon and Kindle. The Minneapolis based retail chain said in a statement to The Verge:

“Target continually evaluates its product assortment to deliver the best quality and prices for our guests. Target is phasing out Kindles and Amazon- and Kindle-branded products in the spring of 2012. We will continue to offer our guests a full assortment of ereaders and supporting accessories including the Nook.”

The department store’s decision to stop carrying the Kindle line, including the Kindle Fire, is most likely to clear shelf space for Apple mini stores, or SWAS (store within a store), that were reported back in January. Targets been carrying iPods, and iPads for quite some time. Intomobile and other sites reported in January that they were going to expand that format and add more products.

More after the break



Apple nor Target has released a definitive statement as to how big the mini-stores will be and whether or not they will sell Mac computers. With the other products already available, it’s definitely a possibility. Most BigBox Best Buy stores have an Apple presence in the form of a SWAS. These locations have a giant illuminated Apple logo and familiar large wooden tablets hosting MacBooks, iMacs and iPads.  Some of the Best Buy stores even have dedicated Apple specialists that were displaced when CompUSA went out of business.

Many sites are speculating that Apple made Target stop selling the Kindle line because it’s the second placed tablet and of course costs a lot less than a shiny new iPad. Target is still going to carry other e-reaeders including the Nook and the Google Reader from iRiver.

In January it was reported that Apple and Target would test 25 locations. With Target pulling out Amazon Kindle products company wide it looks like we could be in for a much larger rollout.

Our real question is, with the creator of the Apple store, Ron Johnson, now CEO at JCPenny, how long until we see the Apple family of products there?

source: PhoneArena

 

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