Electronics retailer Best Buy announced today that it had reached a deal to acquire ISP Speakeasy for $97 million dollars, primarily to strengthen its small business technology offerings. What this means for current Speakeasy customers, and whether this means that there’ll be service changes for those customers or a cutoff of new customers remains to be seen. Speakeasy has long been seen as one of the better ISPs by public opinion, providing outstanding service at decent prices, without the same “big telco” image that other companies like Verizon and Comcast wear.

It would seem that Best Buy’s interests extend beyond small business, however – what with owning Geek Squad as a technology service and support arm and now owning their own ISP, the suite of services that Best Buy looks to offer seems like they have a business strategy that attempts to exert control over and similarly support the digital life of their customers, from making a buying decision on a computer that works for them, customizing and supporting it for its operational lifetime within the Geek Squad arm of business, and providing their customers internet access through a preferred and fully supported ISP in Speakeasy. Only time will tell if this becomes a long-term business strategy that we’ll be able to see inside Best Buy stores, however.

[ ZDNet News: Best Buy Acquires ISP Speakeasy for $97 Million ]