Carphone Warehouse gets into games consoles, Macs

The UK’s High Street gaming retailers now have another competitor on their hands: the Carphone Warehouse has begun selling games consoles. Although CW hasn’t officially announced its roll-out of its in-store 'gaming walls' yet, a representative from a London branch confirmed the firm will sell consoles like the PS3 and Xbox …

[Simon]

But do they still sell...

Car phones?

Maybe they should do a name change.

I used to know a guy who had a shop sellling bottled gas, he called it "City gas" then in the 90s when mobiles started to really take off he switched to phones and then called his company "City gas communications", he thought it sounded odd so changed its name to "Phone world".

I always said to him I liked the name "Gas" as in "Talk", like ya do in the "City". Last time I spoke to him he had a string of shops and was a millionare "On paper". I dont think the company exists now, I guess hes living on a yacht somewhere enjoying his money.

Sorry, off topic, but it reminded me of that slightly pointless story, sorry.

Patches on sleeves, didnt ask him if I could be a company partner...

[Jon Brunson]

In-line advertising

So how much did Sony pay you to say "Whether CW’s gaming walls will welcome handheld consoles, such as the PlayStation Portable"?

Don't you know there are more than twice as many DSs in the UK compared PSPs? You'd hardly mention Dogpile when talking about search engines, or Somerfield when talking about supermarkets, so why mention the market-non-leader in this instance?

</fanboy rant>

[Anonymous Coward]

CPW

And in 2 years they'll be rolling back this new line as it is no longer making any money.

Lets face would you think, "Oh I need a games console, I must pop to my nearest phone shop?"

[Anonymous Coward]

it's only a matter of time...

...before they start selling 'warranties' with everything and become something of a dixons mutant.

or perhaps they'll hook everything into selling you a mobile phone;

Want a fridge? buy this basic mobile on a £50 per month tarrif, contract for 24 months and we'll chuck the fridge in for 'free'.

I wouldn't think there's much money in just selling the gaming hardware. Gaming retailers shouldn't worry too much. Most the staff these days can't speak english let alone know anything about their product range.

[Ian Ferguson]

Will they...

Will the sales droids jump on you as soon as you get through the door, and breathe down your neck until you agree to buy an XBox?

[Joe K]

Pathetic

What a shoddy attempt at grabbing more money from about the only healthy tech sector left. If i want a game i'm going to Game, at least there i can trade in my old crap to get money off.

Reminds of all the PC Worlds big revamp going on right now, half the bloody stores now dedicated to huge plasma and LCD tv's.

They are always next to a comet or dixons anyway, and are the same retailer group. They may as well just all merge into one and be done with it.

[Chris]

What about my phone

But my phone has still been away for repair for over 2 months, perhaps I'll get a PS3 in exchange?

They should be able to service what they already sell rather than expand the range

[Anonymous Coward]

Presumably Best Buy saw some synergies

between CW's customer care and service best practices and their own. I trust they won't be replacing the established CW chinstrapped wonders on an upselling power-trip with US-style bracefaced acne-fountains on an upselling power-trip.

[Jules]

There's no money in new games...

High street video game retailers these days make money re-selling used titles. The consoles and new games are mainly a loss leader.

So unless they plan to turn Carphone Warehouse into a glorified pawn shop like GAME, Gamestation or CEX I can't really see this succeeding.

[Si Lo]

@ Joe K

They're not the same retailer group.

One is DSG and the other is CPW.

The Link were DSG's high st presence.

CPW have been selling PSP's for ages, by the way :)

[Gav H.]

No thanks

Any shop that mobs me as I walk through the doorway loses my custom no matter what they're hawking. They just don't understand the difference between informed advice (welcome) and the blind hard sell (unwelcome).

They're second in line to my throne of Consumer Hate only to DSG :)

[Anonymous Coward]

retards

The tards in most carphone whorehouse stores actually make shopping in a PCWorld pleasurable in comparison.

Muppets.

[Danny Thompson]

Even if they were the only store selling water ...

.... I would avoid CPW (and all of the other "phone" stores) like the plague. I'd rather drink out of muddy puddles! CPW are truly awful, second only to P4U. The sooner the recession claims them the better.

Where's the IT angle in this story anyway? Blatant flamebait I tell ya.