As part if its expansion drive, Best Buy plans to open self service gadget vending machines at airport terminals across the United States. The Best Buy kiosk will charge store prices for the gadgets instead of relatively higher airport prices.

Best Buy has identified twelve cities for its pilot program under which kiosks will be set up at airport terminals. So far these self service vending machines have already come up in San Francisco, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Boston, Houston and Los Angeles while the remaining three are expected to be in place by September 1, this year.

The Best Buy kiosks are expected to stock a variety of high-tech items ranging from digital cameras to mobile chargers. Some of the other products which will perhaps be stocked at these vending machines are MP3 players, SD cards, PSPs, cameras and USB cables. Best Buys has teamed up with ZoomSystems in order to put up its kiosks at various airport terminals.

According to a company spokesperson for Best Buy, customers will not be required to shell out airport rates for the gadgets sold at the self service kiosks and will instead be charged regular store prices. This might come as good news for those air passengers who while waiting for their flight out of the country discover that they have forgotten to pack in their chargers or digital cameras.

-Kalyani Mookherji