I was in a Best Buy tonight, looking for a new external hard drive. While I was looking, I overheard a salesman talking to a young couple next to a PC. The couple asked about viruses, specifically in comparison to the Mac. And the salesman proceed to explain that Macs really got viruses, too. For example, he had a customer that got a virus and had it spread from his Mac through MobileMe to both his iPhone and even his Apple TV!

Now this Best Buy has an Apple store-within-a-store setup. I’ve talked to the official Mac guy there and seems knowledgable. And since we don’t have an Apple Store here in Columbia, this is the best place locally to buy accessories and gear.

This is exactly the reason Apple developed their own retail stores. Remember the days when Apple displays in Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears were barely stocked, half the computers were non-functional and the staff wasn’t trained at all? Imagine where Apple would be today if they still relied on those channels exclusively.