Checking over at Best Buy’s website this doesn’t appear to be a sale of any sort, and is the actual price moving forward. For those that don’t need the iPhone 4S, this is a solid price and comes just in time for those back to school shoppers. This new price comes just a few days after Apple’s Q3 earnings report earlier this week. Where they stated to have sold around 27 million iPhones this quarter, which was viewed as low numbers.

We can expect sales of the older iPhone 4 to soar a little bit with the new competitive pricing, although with all the recent rumors of the iPhone 5 (or the new iPhone) some might be waiting to see what Apple has up their sleeves. If you’re eligible for an upgrade and are ready to sign a new contract, head to Best Buy and snag the iPhone 4 8GB for just $49.99 available today.

[via Tuaw]

These cuts come after a $1.7 billion dollar loss in their most recent fourth quarter, this after a $651 million dolor profit in the same quarter a year previous. These numbers strike hard in a market where online sales and digital content is becoming a more powerful market each day. This new move will have Best Buy reducing their U.S. retail square foot footprint by 20 percent, this about double the amount they’d originally intended when cuts were first discussed this year.

CEO Brian Dunn noted the following in a statement:

“These changes will also help lower our overall cost structure. We intend to invest some of these cost savings into offering new and improved customer experiences and competitive prices — which will help drive revenue. And, over time, we expect some of the savings will fall to the bottom line.” – Dunn

Best Buy’s format will be changing over to their more profitably smaller format Best Buy Mobile stores in the USA. They’ve currently got 300 Best Buy Mobile stores in the mix here in the USA today, with a total of 600 to 800 planned to be in effect by the end of 2012. Best Buy also plans on expanding aggressively in China soon.

[via Star Tribune]

Now that you’ve seen the leaked Best Buy catalog photo, zoom in on the first line and it says in black and white fine print (thank you Best Buy for making us squint even more than we have to), “prices good for all best buy mobile stores from 11/27/11 to 12/25/11″. Readers, could it be true? Will you be in line starting next week for the newly redubbed Nexus Prime? What other phones are you putting off buying for the Nexus Prime? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

If you haven’t seen our exclusive SlashGear review of the Galaxy Nexus (um, correction, Nexus Prime) just released hours ago from our own SG editor Vincent Nguyen, be sure to check it out, as he says that “Galaxy Nexus is one of the finest devices on the market today.” and the “best Android phone around today”. From what we’ve seen, it’s one heck of a smartphone. And now it has an even sexier name and potential release date.

[via Reddit]

“Best Buy believes that there is a significant untapped opportunity as connections migrate from phones to other connectable devices such as tablets, laptops, TVs and eReaders. This transaction will enable Best Buy Mobile to accelerate the deployment of operational and connectivity expertise to these devices and for Best Buy to fully capture the profit potential of these opportunities” Best Buy

Best Buy will continue to work with Carphone Warehouse, as well as pay the company a consultancy fee. In March 2015, each will have the option to buy out the other’s stake in Best Buy Europe. Prior to that, the partnership will set up “Global Connect”, which will offer third parties advice and expertise on setting up mobile businesses worldwide.

Shuttering the eleven UK stores will cost $250 to $270 million, Best Buy says. “Each of these actions represents an exciting growth opportunity for Best Buy and near and long-term value for our shareholders” CEO Brian J. Dunn said in a statement. “We are aggressively ramping up our growing connections capability to support consumers’ increasingly connected lives across the entire range of devices entering the marketplace.”

This is all part of Best Buy’s greater plan to pump up awareness about their wireless department even though their wireless department is easily their most visible set of sections in the store. There’s one gigantic section for their smartphones, another gigantic section for their tablets, and the PCs are pushed back into the aisles. That said, Best Buy has apparently earmarked $25 million USD for marketing this holiday season, with most of the promotions set to pop up in the next few weeks.

As far the game, the Modern Warfare 3 promotion includes a free case and the so-called Elite App, this offering you more experience points that you’ll be able to use on better weapons in-game. Have a peek at the multiplayer gameplay video below and let us know if you plan to toss down some dollars next Tuesday. ALSO if you’d like to know more about the devices in the deal, have a look at our reviews here:

HTC Incredible 2 [AKA DROID Incredible 2]
HTC Inspire 4G [Android Community]
HTC Evo 4G

War now!

Before we go any further, note, just so we’re clear, that this is a guide for people who have just purchased the iPad 2 and want to know what we’d suggest you look into as far as both peripherals and super fun applications. You’ve already got your iPad 2 which you purchased from one of several sources, Apple, AT&T, Verizon, or Best Buy or Walmart and you’re pumped up enough to check us out to work it out! Well played, Apple owner, let’s make a nutshell of it.

Oh you’ve got a crappy ol’ iPad 1? Weigh your choices!

First you’re gonna want to order two things if you don’t have them already, one of them to protect the front of your device, the other to protect the back. To protect the back, you’ll want to take a look at the StealthArmor iPad 2 skin. Then for the front, Apple’s pretty much made the case for you NEEDING the most awesome thing they’ve ever made in the history of the world that didn’t have a chip in it: the iPad 2 Smart Cover. Also you should take a peek at Scosche’s accessory lineup. Then of course there’s the fabulous Wrapsol, a group who also already has a fabulous skin for the iPad that’ll protect that crap out of your tablet from your hand all the way down to your kitchen floor.

Not just a whole lot of new apps have been released lately (or at least in honor of the iPad 2,) but we’ve got the inside lane on the idea that a lot WILL be coming out (and we’ll be here to tell you about them when the time comes) but for now, here are a couple that have JUST been released by Apple so that you can make the most of your iPad experience:
• iMovie for iPad
• Photo Booth on iOS 4.3
• Camera+ [YOU HAVE A CAMERA NOW!]
• Jenga [Seriously, if you've not tried this, you've not yet Jenga'd]
• Tiny Wings [the new KING!]
• Pulse News [NOW FEATURING ANDROID COMMUNITY, YAY!]
• Netflix [SUPER NICE LOOKING]
• SlashGear [GREATEST APP OF ALL TIME!]
and
• 65,000 others [see, we covered all the bases]

Of course, there’s always the chance that you’re not quite at the point where you’ve got a notebook or a tablet yet: Tablet vs Notebook: The Consumer Decision. Then once you’ve decided to pick up an iPad 2, but you’ve gotta go to SXSW, you’re going to find that you’re still in luck.

Oh and if you put your Smart Cover by your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and it falls asleep, [don't worry about it].

The free smartphones on Verizon include the Droid Incredible, LG Ally, and LG Vortex. The last offering comes in black or purple colors. AT&T users can get the HTC Aria or the Sony Xperia Mobile Phone in silver or black. Sprint users can get the LG Optimus S, Sanyo Zio, and the Blackberry Curve.

T-Mobile fans will be offered the LG Optimus T in burgundy and titanium. All of the phones will be available to upgrades and new customers with a new 2-year contract. There will be free smartphone offers every Friday during the holiday shopping season.

Via Android Community

From Around the Web:

BlackBerry Style to be the Second Chassis for Windows Phone 7: Way back in the day, some time during the early stages of the year, Microsoft came clean that there’d be three different chassis builds for Windows Phone 7 handsets. The idea, was that Microsoft would be “controlling” the main look and feel of Windows Phone 7, and that meant that there’d be a lot more “defined” attributes for the mobile Operating System. Customers would know exactly what to expect. And while there’s been no defining mention of what those chassis would consist of, thanks to Microsoft’s ISV developer Paul Foster, we now have a firm grasp on what we should expect: “WP7 devices will have one of two screen resolutions – either 800 x 480 for large touchscreen devices with the potential for slide-out Qwerty keyboards, or 480 x 320 for ‘BlackBerry’ style handsets that can incorporate a Qwerty on the front of the device. Microsoft expects the majority of WP7 devices to have the larger screen resolution at launch, with smaller resolution handsets coming later, said Foster.” [via WMExperts]

R3 Media Network

SlashGear

Sony’s First Google TV Gets Pictured
2nd Gen iPad Could be Lighter, Feature USB Port and Camera
Studios Want to Charge You $30 for Early Access to Movies
Mophie Juice Pack for iPhone 4 Review
Aligata iPad Case Review
CLEAR 4G WiFi Home Router Pictured at FCC

Android Community

Best Buy Offering 4 Free Phones Every Friday in October
iControlPad Will Work with Your Android Device

SlashPhone

Android Market Expands Access to Paid Apps
Windows Phone 7 Announcement Coming October 11th?

Pricing for the Devour is now definitively set at $99.99 after new agreement without any additional Best Buy related rebates required, with Verizon sticking the Devour with its own $249.99 pricetag before an additional $100 mail-in rebate, a total of $149.99.

Meanwhile, the Motorola Droid will also be lowered to $99 and the Droid Eris will be free after a new contract, both pricing will start on February 25th, along the Devour launch.

{Facebook via Android Community]

The handset uses the HTC Sense UI and runs Android. Best Buy Mobile has announced a new special deal that is exclusively for Reward Zone members. Base members of Reward Zone can get the handset for $49 with a new 2-year agreement.

Reward Zone Premier silver members can get the device free with a new 2-year contract. The MSRP of the DROID Eris is $99. The handset was $99.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate eon the Verizon network when it debuted.

Best Buy Mobile is offering the Blackberry 9700 for $99.99, the 8900 for $69.99, the 9000 for $89.99, and the 8520 for $29.99. If a Blackberry isn’t your thing you can get the AT&T Xenon smartphone free with a new contract.

If you are looking for a netbook the Nokia Booklet 3G is available for $199.99 after a contract for a qualifying data plan is signed. The Nokia Booklet 3G promises 12 hours of battery life and has lots of other features.

The mIQ service provides a cloud-based storage and backup solution for mobile phone users to take the information that is captured and stored on their mobile phones and upload it to servers in the cloud. This allows the user to archive contacts, text messages, calendar events, photos, video, and more in case a phone is stolen or is broken.

The data uploaded from the user’s phone can be accessed from any Internet-connected computer. The mIQ service will be part of the in-store, free smartphone setup that Best Buy offers. Other smartphone users can sign up for the service on the mIQ website. The service works with Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60 devices.