Is Best Buy lonely at the top? Doubtful

Yes, consumer electronics sales have been diving and may continue to dive this year, leaving Best Buy holding the bag since it is the only specialty consumer electronics retailer left. But if there is any margin left to get out there, it will be Best Buy's.

Consumer electronics margins can be incredibly thin, something Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn isn't going to be passive about. Say goodbye to a focus on music and movie media and bring on the "connected" lifestyles. Yes, we've heard this before, but Best Buy has little choice this time. It has to follow margins, not products of popular (but declining) influence.

But the areas Dunn has publicly emphasized -- low-cost laptops and mobile phones -- aren't exactly new either. Low-cost laptops surely don't carry a ton of margin for any retailer (or manufacturer, but they'll take what they can get), and now that everyone and their dog has a cellphone in the U.S., selling mobile means constantly swaying customers from one wireless carrier to another. There's got to be more to Best Buy's future success plans than that.