And now for the irony: it'll be no better a buy than what you can find at ye olde Apple or AT&T store. Best Buy officially becomes the first third-party retailer in the US to sell the iPhone in an official capacity -- 3G or otherwise -- when it launches the iPhone 3G in some 970 stores plus an additional 18 dedicated Mobile locations on September 7 for the same $199 and $299 price points found elsewhere. Quoth Best Buy Mobile's CEO, "We had a lot of work to do, obviously, to get in a position where Apple and AT&T would feel good about Best Buy Mobile carrying it, and that's what we've done in the last 18 months." In other words, this has been a pretty persistent effort to score the third-party exclusive essentially since the original model was announced, and it's just now paying off. There's no indication on how the addition of Best Buy to the US sales mix will affect production or distribution, but at least there'll be one more place to try to find some frickin' stock.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

It seems that Sprint's letting the cat out of the bag on its upcoming Touch successor -- within its trusted circle of retailers, anyway. We've now received some juicy morsels of information suggesting that both Best Buy and Radio Shack have been told to expect shipments of the MP6950 Touch Diamond in the next few weeks, with the big blue box tentatively expecting stock on August 17 (we think they're fooling themselves there, but it'd be nice) and the Shack expecting a more realistic-sounding September 2 launch. Along with the Touch Pro, the Touch Diamond should go a long way toward revitalizing Sprint's smartphone lineup at a time when the carrier can pretty much use every little bit of help it can get. In fact, we think we'll hook this up to a SERO plan and... ah, wait, never mind.

[Thanks, anonymous tipsters]

See what it's come to Bluetooth SIG? Headset-to-cellphone pairing is so utterly baffling to average consumers that they are now handing over a Hamilton at Best Buys in California (in support of the new hands-free calling law) just to avoid the procedure. Eight years after the launch of the world's first Bluetooth headset from Ericsson, this is where we're at. Still, at $10, consider it a bargain -- that's half of what Best Buy will charge you for the already free-to-download (and free to ship on CD) Ubuntu OS.

[Thanks, Tarek]

Alright, Rogers customers, stop your poutin' that your friends south of the border on T-Mobile got the ROKR E8 and you didn't -- because yeah, now you guys have it too. Best Buy is now offering the E8 on Rogers for $149.99 CAD (about $147) on one of those crazy three-year deals, and since local stores are stocking it, you'll be able to freak out your friends with the morphing keypad before the day's out. Get to it!

[Via MobileSyrup]

Leaked inventory screens from Best Buy (also known as Poor Buy, So-So Buy, Decent Buy, or Alright Buy, depending on how you feel about the place) suggest that the big box expects to take inventory of the Sidekick Gekko (or "Gecco," depending on whose spelling you believe) along with the Tony Hawk LX come the 27th of this month. That's just about on schedule with the expected release dates for both devices, so it seems believable enough -- and with the memory of the iD fading fast, an entry-level Sidekick with changeable faceplates is just what the doctor ordered (as for the Tony Hawk LX, we're really not sure who ordered that, but it certainly wasn't the doctor).

At first, we were all stoked at the realization that it took HTC shy of two months to go from announcement to availability of its US-flavored Touch Dual, but then we had this wet blanket thrown on us when we reflected on the fact that it's been like six months since the European model was first shown. No bother -- at least the US model will be among the very first devices anywhere to ship with Windows Mobile 6.1 out of the box, which is kinda cool. Best Buy will be offering the phone starting this weekend for $549.99 unlocked, available on its website or directly from "select" Best Buy Mobile locations around the country, so try not to let those visions of Diamonds distract you too much while you're whipping out the credit card.

We didn't really expect the 2760 to land on T-Mobile for another month or so, but crazy things happen when you send out dummy phones to retail partners well ahead of the official launch date. An eagle-eyed tipster spotted Nokia's new low-end hotness (an oxymoron? you decide) for T-Mob at Best Buy recently, suggesting that the big box is either getting an early exclusive on the phone before the carrier starts selling it, or, you know, they just screwed up. Anyone else spot it?

[Thanks, Mohit]

Best Buy and Carphone Warehouse have already gotten cozy west of the Atlantic to collaborate on Best Buy's Mobile locations, so what's the next logical move? Collaborating on the east side, that's what, to the tune of $2.1 billion. The money will buy Best Buy a solid half of Carphone's retail business, giving the combined company enough horsepower (theoretically, anyway) to take on other retailers across Europe; existing stores will retain the Carphone Warehouse name, but new, larger stores to be opened in 2009 and beyond will be branded Best Buy. Carphone looks to use that nice little cash infusion to make fresh investments in landline and broadband operations -- but with both landline and wireless business struggling from market saturation and a downtick in the economy, how long is this all going to take to turn into black ink?

[Via mocoNews]

It seems like a healthy contingent of folks are getting amped for the imminent release of Glyde on Verizon, but we'd always assumed that those folks would be paying a buck or two for the privilege of sporting Samsung's latest and greatest in their pockets on day one. Well, turns out that may not be the case: we've been sent a tip showing what appears to be a screen shot out of Best Buy's system, indicating that it'll be free with any rate plan activation or upgrade. Skepticism is always in order with these sorts of things because even if the screen shot is legit, it's entirely plausible that Best Buy just has it's signals crossed as it preps for launch -- but we can always hope, can't we?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

It's hard to say just how long this plan has been brewing, but it seems awfully suspicious that Best Buy and Amp'd parted ways on the very same day that Amp'd decided to sell itself off bit by bit, does it not? Best Buy's weekend employee flier unceremoniously declares that July 20 marks the end of in-store sales -- probably a good idea, we figure, considering that the phones may stop functioning in a few days -- with teams coming in to yank down ads and take hardware. We're also hearing that online account activations aren't working at this point, so getting a new Amp'd handset is pretty freaking hard to do at this point -- not to say you'd want one, anyway.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

With 65% of U.S. mobile handset buyers going to carrier outlets and counters to buy all those handsets, that leaves the other 35% of US wireless customers looking at other sources for all those cellphones by our math; physical and online retailers pick up that slack. Which, exactly? Wireless Week reports that powerhouse retailers like Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target and Wal-Mart are (unsurprisingly) doing their part. Hey, are those calling plan commission bells we hear? Anyway, Wal-Mart has gained ground from the days of selling low-end phones and plans, offering a decent assortment from more than a few carriers these days; Best Buy is doing well also, while Radio Shack -- once chummy with several carriers -- is apparently being beaten badly by the bigger consumer electronics and discount chains, and the news that its outlets won't be getting the iPhone in store can't be easing the heartburn. Of course, we figure this kind of fierce competition can only be good news for consumers, so bring it on; if the big boxes want to beat carriers' corporate stores dollar-for-dollar on handsets, you're not going to hear a peep of complaint out of us.

While Best Buy's been selling mobiles (and holding out on Wii hopefuls) for some time now, the big blue retailer is diverting a bit more fundage towards the cause. Aside from continuing to offer phones and plans in typical stores, Best Buy is opening up a smattering of New York-based Mobile stores to handle your cellular needs (and probably hassle you for an extended warranty as well). While details about the store layout and initial offerings are a bit scant at this point, we do know that nine locales will be opening up in the Big Apple alone, with a red (as in, not black) PRODUCT (RED) RAZR being their "exclusive" offering. The stores will partner with Verizon Wireless, Amp'd Mobile, Sprint-Nextel, and Cingular, and should have a plethora of promotional goodies surrounding each and every door to snag your attention.

Typically, we'd expect a company like Best Buy to be looking out for its loyal customers coming in to pick up some bleeding-edge mobile tech (by US standards, anyway), especially when they're willing to pay super-premium prices for the privilege. Imagine our surprise, then, to get a promotional email from Escape (Best Buy's pet project for high-end electronics in Chicago) advertising LG KG800s -- that's the original Chocolate for those not up to speed on LG's model numbering convention -- at a stiff $520. That in and of itself is neither surprising nor interesting; KG800s are relatively easy to come by, even in the States, and plenty of importers are willing to ship one to your door. What is interesting, though, is that the KG800 doesn't support GSM 850. Why would a giant in the American electronics retail market push crippled, not-intended-for-US-sale phones, knowing full well that the buyers are going to have a subpar experience? And furthermore, couldn't they come up with an actual shot of the KG800 rather than using Verizon's press photos of the VX8500, a phone that doesn't even look the same? We called Escape yesterday and were told that the phone had sold out pretty briskly after the promo email had gone out, which doesn't surprise us -- we wouldn't expect the average Escape customer to think twice about the compatibility of a shiny new phone in their showroom. If it has Best Buy's blessing, it must be at least usable... right?

Update: To clarify, the KG800 being sold by Escape is a tri-band GSM model with reception on the 900, 1800, and 1900MHz bands. While 1900 will buy you reception in the US, 850 is accounting for an ever-increasing percentage of coverage. We're glad to see a store like Escape accomodating the needs of cash-flush technophiles, but we'd like to see them make it a little clearer in the future when certain phones might not give the best experience -- particularly for 850-heavy Cingular customers.