Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products are now available at Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) stores in the U.S. Staples executives tweeted the news earlier this month, and now it has come true. The executives’ tweets didn’t come with a time frame initially.
Staples’ website has a large banner announcing the availability of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s products on its site. The office supply retailer offers a variety of products online, most of which are accessories for the company’s products. At this point the retail chain’s hardware offerings from Apple are still very limited.
CNET reports that currently the availability of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) products at Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS) is limited to the company’s site, although the company’s brick and mortar stores are expected to begin carrying them soon. According to CNET, about half of all Staples stores in the U.S. will offer products made by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).
Apple’s availability at Staples is the next step in the company’s efforts to make its products available to as many consumers as possible. It also signals another step in Apple’s push to expand from the consumer space into the enterprise space.
Apple has been signing deals with numerous large corporations and government entities to get its iPhones in the hands of employees as a replacement for old models of Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s BlackBerry handsets. The National Transportation Safety Board and The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) are just two large scale customers that have switched from BlackBerry to the iPhone within recent months.
Shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) were up on Tuesday, likely on rumors that the company could announce a stock split at Wednesday’s shareholder meeting.