Best Buy finagles Apple TV exclusive

The blue-shirted ones scored a mini coup this week.

Best Buy said today that the just-released Apple TV will be available in all 822 of its U.S. stores starting Tuesday. That's two weeks ahead of all other retailers that are not named the Apple Store.

Granted, the set-top box will be available in limited supply at first. The initial shipment will be 3,000 units, which spread across more than 800 stores means there will be about five Apple TVs available at each store for the MSRP of $299.

Though there aren't many other consumer electronics stores that sell Mac computers, this does give Best Buy an advantage over the numerous outlets that carry iPods. Apple TV, a home-networking device that connects the PC and TV, falls somewhere in between computing and portable media. This is the first time Best Buy is selling Apple products besides iPods and computers.

Update: Best Buy on Thursday retracted its above claim. The retailer will still be getting an initial shipment of 3,000 Apple TVs that will be available for purchase beginning Tuesday, March 27, Best Buy spokesman Jeff Dudash said. But he wouldn't say whether the store will have the device for any exclusive period of time.