In the wake of Circuit City’s demise, Radio Shack may leap into the wireless breach and pick up that lost distribution for Verizon Wireless.
That’s according to a report in PhoneNews.com, which said sources confirmed that Verizon will be back at the Shack after an almost 4-year hiatus. The Ft. Worth, Texas-based electronics retailer had previously dumped Verizon’s goods from its shelves when it restructured its wireless division.
Radio Shack is already a distributor for AT&T Inc. and Sprint-Nextel Corp.. And even with Circuit City out of the picture it still has to compete with Best Buy, a giant in the field that has made wireless a big strategic part of its recession strategy, promoting unlocked devices, setting up store-within-a-store mobile specialty shops and being the only other retailer outside of Wal-Mart to be able to offer the iPhone.
That said, Radio Shack is the only retailer to offer AT&T’s netbook deal.
Now is the time to strike: By 2013, smartphones will double their share of all cellphones to about 20 percent, reports In-Stat. Global smartphone growth this year will be strong globally, but even stronger in the U.S. market. Strong demand is being driven by device manufacturers leveraging open OS device to re-invent the mobile phone experience, said analyst Frank Dickson.
