Apple has been significantly expanding its retail presence over the past several years. I can remember when you could only find Apple products at CompUSA, and now they are everywhere: Best Buy, RadioShack, Walmart, Target, you name it.
And it looks like it’s set to add another store to that list. According to a new report this weekend, Staples has begun advertising the Apple TV on its website. It would seem that the office retail giant is gearing up to begin offering Apple products…
9to5Mac points to Staples’ web store, where it is offering up a third-generation Apple TV for $49.99. That’s the lowest price we’ve ever seen on the device, but unfortunately, we can’t take advantage of it. It’s currently listed as a ‘out of stock.’
It’s just a test page for now. Staples could be performing site maintenance, or trying to drum up some publicity. There are other Apple products listed on the site as well like the iPad Smart Cover and the ever-popular Lightning-to-USB charging cable.
The implications here are huge, not only for Staples, but for Apple as well. If this holds up, the Cupertino company would gain access to millions of customers who would finally be able to buy Apple gear on their Staples corporate expense accounts.
There’s no telling when, or if, this is all going to go down. But MacRumors is reporting that it was told by a source last week that Staples will indeed begin selling Apple products—Macs and iOS devices included—sometime in “the coming months.”
Update: we’re getting word from our readers that Staples already offers Apple products in other countries, like Canada and the Netherlands. So that pretty much makes a US partnership inevitable.