Best Buy just came out with an insanely good idea. Like, I’m kind of shocked here. They just launched “Upgrade+“, which is an installment based MacBook purchase plan that guarantees you a new MacBook every 3 years for reasonable monthly payments; let’s talk about it.
Basically it works like the current installment plans for smartphones, just… with a MacBook. So it isn’t exactly rocket science, but it’s just a fantastic idea. You pick your MacBook and then the monthly payments are divided up across 3 years and the overall price of the device. You just pay it for the period, decide if you want to trade it back in or keep it for a buyout price and then get another one.
This is an absolute game changer for students and the like. When I was a broke college kid, I was never able to save up for anything as nice as a MacBook (due to being dumb) but you’d be hard pressed to find someone with a Netflix subscription who wouldn’t also be able to get a MacBook for 20 bucks a month.
The fact that Best Buy beat Apple to the punch is also hilarious*. Of course, the Apple Card has financing options but the Upgrade+ program is more of a service and I’m sure someone at Apple is kicking themselves right now for not having a similar plan already rolled out.
*EDIT: Upgrade+ is actually a very well thought out partnership between Best Buy and Apple. That makes the program even better, in my opinion!
Great job, Best Buy, I’m impressed. On a personal aside, having worked at Best Buy years ago I have a slight attachment to the company and it’s nice to see them innovating and trying to recapture the brand imagery that they used to have – being the place for consumer electronics. So keep it up, Amazon hasn’t landed the killing blow yet!
