The merger talks between Dixons and Carphone Warehouse were born from a discussion about a different deal. Plan A was the less ambitious proposal to install Carphone outlets in lots of Dixons, Currys and PC World stores in the UK.
That deal would be easy to understand. Dixons would boot out Phones4U, which currently has concessions in 160 of its 500-odd stores, in favour of the market leader in mobile phone retailing.
Carphone would get access to more customers and a chance to repeat the success it achieved in the US via a partnership with Best Buy, which has since been unwound.
Is Plan B – a full-blown merger – a better structure? There seem to be two arguments in favour. First, proper mergers allow proper savings to be made. The actual scope in this case is hard to estimate but a combined base of annual revenues of £12bn ought to yield something in the form of increased buying power with big suppliers.
The second argument is more wishy-washy. It's the notion that the products themselves are changing, that lines are becoming blurred and that connected devices are cropping up everywhere. It's televisions today, but maybe fridges tomorrow.
On this line of thinking, Carphone's and Currys' markets will collide in the age of the "internet of things", so it's best to make a virtue of the fact and discover what the customers actually want.
It's a tantalising argument. One chief worry, though, is whether customers' shopping habits are evolving as fast as visions of gadget connectivity in corporate boardrooms.
Carphone is a force of nature in mobile phone retailing thanks to its single-minded focus and the perceived independence of advice. It's hard to know how punters would react if a lovely deal on a fridge-freezer is shoe-horned into the conversation.
Still, Sir Charles Dunstone, Carphone founder, usually knows what he is doing. If he thinks a full-blown merger is the way to go, shareholders will back him. In any case, he owns 23% of the company.
As for Dixons' investors, a helping of the Dunstone magic will probably appeal.
Carphone's shares rose 8.8% and Dixons' 6.6%. The stars, and not just the market capitalisations of the two companies, seem sufficiently aligned for this deal to happen, with Dunstone as chairman and Dixons' Seb James as chief executive.
Let's hope, though, that the duo reveal why Plan B is so much better than the simpler Plan A. It may be, but an explanation is required.
