Samsung Instinct tops Best Buy sales

Best Buy announced this week that the Samsung Instinct from Sprint has become the retailer's best selling handset of the last two years, apparently outselling all 95 other phones the retailer carries.

It's quite an understandable feat, though, since Best Buy is the device's exclusive non-Sprint retail provider.

This announcement echoes Sprint's of several weeks ago that said the Instinct had become the company's fastest selling EV-DO handset of all time. Unfortunately, neither of these announcements had accompanying numbers to provide a hard perspective.

With a two-year contract and accompanying rebates, the Instinct's $449.99 MSRP drops to $129.99 through Best Buy. The retailer also offers a setup and personalization program for those who want to have the device firing on all cylinders as soon as their purchase is complete.

The Instinct is being pushed hard by both companies, and an "Instinct vs. iPhone" viral marketing campaign attempts to illustrate various ways Samsung's device is superior to Apple's popular phone.

Commenters are quick to point out that the comparison is between a 3G and 2G device, at least for the next 24 hours, and the playing field will be level after Apple's new handset is released.

Since sales figures are currently unavailable it is difficult to gauge actual popularity of the Instinct. However, the 3,240-member Instinct-Samsung message board appears to be populated mostly by satisfied customers. Outside of reported issues with the onboard MP3 player, complaints are few.