Which hardly seems believable, but you never know. Yes, Walmart, that bastion of crass commercialism, is going to be carrying the iPhone, that symbol of elegant commercialism, and what we’re going to get is a whole lot of commercialism.Analyst Gene Munster (our favorite prognosticator other than the Groundhog himself) says that not only will Apple sell a whopping 45 million iPhones next year, but a tenth of them will be sold right here in America at good ol’ Walmart.
Apparently he didn’t change his numbers from before the announcement of the Walmart deal, since he had already planned on Apple finding other ways to sell the iPhone. But man, that’s a lot of iPhones.
No one’s ever been proven wrong overestimating Apple sales we guess. Think iPhones are commonplace now? Wait until you see ‘em at Walmart.
I’d be hard-pressed to forecast anyone’s sales in this economy. That’s what people like Munster get paid to do.
I have never wanted a cell phone. Why should I pay a monthly fee to make it easier for others to harass me and waste my time? If I had a cell phone, I think I would like the iPhone, and there is no place I would rather purchase this token of pretentious consumerism than Walmart.
Unlikely unless they drop the price and unlock them. I just want to drop in my SIM card and go. Screw all that activation crap.
#2 – the average WalMart customer – and there certainly are millions of them – wouldn’t have a clue about what you’re talking about. Nor do they care.
How do you like those apples!?
Big deal. Wally’s has been selling ipods for years, in big numbers. Why not the iphone?
@#1 “Why should I pay a monthly fee”
You don’t have to have a monthly fee for a cell phone.
Prepaid phones are the cheapest and most convenient way to have a cellphone for emergency and rare-use needs.
It is rather common to pay $30 and get both the prepaid phone and 200 minutes.
iPhone Nano. That’s all I’m saying.
So will Walmart force apple to year on year drop the price of the iPhone like it forces all of their other suppliers to do?
“Walmart – the high cost of low price” (or something similar) should be mandatory viewing for everyone.
Heh. I guess after weeks of prodigious prognosticating that there was nfw that Wally*World was going to sell the iPhone, now they’re going to sell the iPhone after all.
The iPhone is nothing special now. Everybody who wanted to be the First Kid On The Block with one got it long ago, showed it off, and banked the grooviness points.
Even I might buy one, when they come down under $100 and fix that idiotic MMS messaging “feature”.
#4 – SpEd
>>
What are those little boxes?
Are they on the hillside?
Are they all made of ticky-tacky?
Is there a green one and a pink one?
And a blue one and a yellow one?
Are they all made out of ticky-tacky?
Do they all look just the same?
#11 – Mustard, they are apples. I guess I’ll have to get you a Mac for Christmas. HO³
#12 – SpEd
Well, they don’t show up as apples. They show up as little boxes, and they well be made out of ticky-tacky for all I know!
And they show up as boxes both on my PC AND my Mac. If you really want to get me something for Christmas, you could get me a downgrade from Vista to XP. Now THAT would be a gift that keeps on giving. HO³.
#13 – If I send you one will you quit posing here?
I can’t see it matters much where you buy the phone. You’re still locked into AT&FingT’s miserable service and high price. You are also still at the whim of Apple about how you can use the phone.
The best thing about W-Mart selling the iPhone is that, if a success, it will help bring down down the cost of new phones as they are introduced.
#14 – Z-bitch
STFU
HOOKED UP TO ITUNES, FOREVER…
Wow how the stuffy have fallen. Apple products at Walmart. I can remember a local retail book and gift shop that didn’t quite measure up to Apple’s floor display standards, and lost their contract. But they were able to carry PC clones, Commodore and Atari computers, with no problem. Then Macs started showing up in Bestbuys. And now iPhones in Walmarts. Strange though, I bet you can’t buy Vista software there.
I think I’d own an iPod Touch before I’d get an iPhone. Then I could at least pretend to be sporting an iPhone, without the telecom fees. A prepaid cell phone, sounds like a go deal. But I’m sure these things are like a gateway drug, that lead to hardcore cell phone use.
I will believe 45 million after it happens…
The iPhone is gonna be sort of large on the fiddle factor for the walmart shopper I think.
I still miss functional turn by turn GPS, and MMS.
AT&T still sucks, and you have to be a computer nerd to want an iPhone in spite of the crap ATT phone service. Those are not Walmart shoppers.
I do think Wal-Mart tends to set the price for a product. If they sell iPhones starting at $188 for instance. Then that’s where it will be. What I don’t think will happen is Wal-mart customers will sudenly become wealthier and start buying expensive iPhones. Wal-Mart customers have generally been middle to lower middle class in most of their markets. The question still is with these multi functional cell phones is how many really can afford the phone and the plan?
I have a iPod Touch (1st gen, refurbished), I like it, it’s a nice design. But I wouldn’t consider an iPhone as long as it’s tied to AT&T.
>> Prepaid phones are the cheapest and most convenient way to have a cellphone for emergency and rare-use needs.
>> It is rather common to pay $30 and get both the prepaid phone and 200 minutes.
For me, Tracfone is considerably less than $10 a month with Tracfone. About $8 I think,
What I like best about Tracfone is how cheap the phones are.
I just hate worrying about portable items!
For me, the “worry price point” is about $50.
Under $50, I can say “Oh, what the heck! I’ll get another one.”
That’s what I want in all my portable devices, sunglasses, accessories, etc. If I have to worry about losing (or haven stolen) a portable device, then I am serving the device and that’s crazy.
>> Glenn E. said,
>> I can remember a local retail book and gift shop that didn’t quite measure up to Apple’s floor display standards, and lost their contract. But they were able to carry PC clones, Commodore and Atari computers, with no problem.
Remember when you could go to KMart and buy three or four different computer systems, right off the shelf?
… and these were systems that you had to learn how to PROGRAM! At the very least, you had to know cryptic line commands. And many people were actually PHYSICALLY SHOWING UP at computer user groups and swapping programs and learning about their computers.
Computer magazines — and there were lots of them — had CODE in there, that people were typing into the computers they bought at KMart! And this wasn’t just college-type people — I was living in a blue collar area and rednecks were doing it, too.
It was a remarkable time of self-education and popular innovation. I can’t imagine it today.
It doesn’t matter if you think iPhone is overpriced, or the monthly fee is exorbitant or whatever shortfall you want to bestow upon them. Apple has proven time and again that they know the markets better than their peers and all the nay-sayers here. If you don’t like their stuff you obviously aren’t their target market, but there are more than enough who do. Apple knows it and Walmart knows it. That’s why they are masters of their respective fields and are rolling in money while we toil every day to make ends meet. No guarantees in this market of course, but I would bet that Apple shares will be 20% higher in 2-3 months. Unfortunately I don’t have any risk-money to buy them. Rim looks good too. Damn!