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Wal-Mart Threatened by iTunes Movies?

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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The New York Post reports that Wal-Mart is warning Hollywood studios against partnering with Apple's iTunes Store for movie distribution.

According to studio executives, "Wal-Mart has overtly threatened to retaliate if [studios] go into business with Apple."

While Apple has only signed one movie studio (Disney) to the iTunes store, the early success has caught the attention of other studios. One executive is quoted as saying "We all want to be in the Apple business".

The threat of Wal-Mart repurcussions, however, may temper enthusiasm as Wal-Mart controls a large portion of the retail market for DVDs.

The situation between [Wal-Mart] and Hollywood has gotten so heated and so high-level that Jobs recently phoned Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to ask him to moderate his stance, according to a source.
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Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2006/09/22/wal-mart-threatened-by-itunes-movies/
Screw Wal-mart! They should shrivel up and die. I grew up in the epicenter of Wal-Mart's birthplace and it is nothing more than a plague on small-town (and larger city) life.
 
ha,
they are just afraid. Well competition is a good thing. they better adapt, if not, that's their problem.
I can careless for Walmart.
 
Last I checked, Wal*Mart sells iPods (Shuffles at least), correct? So a victory in the iPod dep't is a victory for Wal*Mart....?

Okay, probably not. Still, Wal*mart could try to work out some sort of deal with Apple as well... but that's unlikely.

Poor Wal*Mart. After ol' Sam kicked the bucket, the company just hasn't been the same. Now his greedy kids are turning it into an evil empire.

-Clive
 
I seem to remember Wal-Mart's CEO saying in a CNBC show that his company doesn't bully vendors.....what a load.
 
BrianMojo said:
Last I checked this kind of anti-competitive action was illegal under monopoly laws...
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you might be right...wasn't MS hit with something similar? It's not fair for a distributor to threaten the product producer (OMG..that is bad english, but you know what i mean).

i actually think it's funny b/c the studios don't like to be told what to do by anyone. if using Apple helps distribute their products, i highly doubt they'll listen to wal-mart or anyone for that matter.

it would be interesting to know whether or not WM has specific distribution deals with studios which has language indicating the studios can't distribute.

in the end, it just looks pathetically whiny by WM to cry about this. "OH..we can't sell online so nobody else is allowed...that's not fair." blah blah boo hoo.

losers.

cheers,
Keebler
 
It's about time Wal-Mart gets burned to the ground.

I hope that this pisses off the studios royally. The sooner we shift to a purely electronic method of distribution, the better everything is.

There's no way that Wal-Mart would stop selling DVDs, and what else could they possibly do? Raise prices?

It's retarded. Wal-Mart won't lose any substantial sum of money if iTunes carries movies from all the major houses. But they will lose tons if they stop selling DVDs.

This just seems really foolish to me. They're not in a good position (for once). Granted, it could hurt the studios for a while, but people want to see movies more than they want to shop at Wal-Mart, methinks.
 
What are Walmart proposing to do exactly...

It's not like they are just going to stop selling DVD's from certain studios. People who want to buy a DVD that Walmart doesn't stock will just go to Best Buy or buy them from Amazon.

I don't see how Walmart has much bargining power here without shooting themselves in the foot.
 
Walmart wont do squat! They are just bitc*ing in fear they are gonna lose $$$. What are they gonna do? Stop selling movies from certain distributers and lose even more $$$ ????:rolleyes:
 
I posted in another post on this website this claim some time ago. Wal-Mart uses loss-leading priced CD sales to draw people into the store. BTW that is directly harmful to other brick and morter stores as well as medium priced online retailers. Are they apologizing for that? Considering that iTunes has been in business for YEARS now, have they somehow lost this "increased consumer traffic benefit" as a result of Apple's (#5 in market) success?

Do they see someting we do not see as to Apple's current or future domination of the movie business?

It seems that since Wal-Mart tends to service the very lowest income class in our culture and many of these folks tend to not have computers, and to the extent they do, tend to not have broadband either, it seems there is a degree of mutual exclusivity of markets.

Therefore it seems Wal-Mart is less concerned about the sales themselves as the "benefits" they receive by the physical customer traffic they get from some people going to Wal-Mart to buy intentionally underpriced product so they will shop for other things while there.

BTW Wal-Mart themselves state this, so it is not speculation.

Rocketman

See my really little violin?
 
David vs. Goliath here. Let the battle begin. If anyone has experience in dealing with monopoly and monopoly-like power, its Apple.
 
I think I speak for everyone...

Skrew Wal*Mart!

Who do they think they are? Their whole stratagy is forcing their supliers into deals that ultimatly hurt those with product. Wal*Mart can suck it!
 
kalisphoenix said:
It's retarded. Wal-Mart won't lose any substantial sum of money if iTunes carries movies from all the major houses. But they will lose tons if they stop selling DVDs.
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I don't think Wal-Mart makes money on a lot of their DVDs. They sell them at a loss to get people in their stores. If people buy on iTunes, they don't come into Wal-Mart.
 
Unethical.

Wal-Mart is unethical in this. iTunes is the #1 music download site by 65,987,234 light years, but does Apple say, "Your music cannot be sold at Wal-Mart or Best Buy if it is going to be sold here."? This is piss poor management. I would want my vendors to WANT to do business with me because MY STORE offers a superior experience for the customer, not because I force them to. Wal-Mart needs to do 3 things.
1) Drop this now.
2) Clean the f#$%king floor.
3) Demand that all female employees shave their mustaches.

Rant complete.
 
F*#% Wal-Mart!
:)

I for one rarely go there (only when I really need an item I cannot find anywhere else). Now I am never going to go there. I needed just one more reason to keep me out of their doors and this is it.

MacRumors members unite:

BOYCOTT WAL-MART
 
BrianMojo said:
Last I checked this kind of anti-competitive action was illegal under monopoly laws...
Click to expand...

I second that!!! Not only is that against the law, its very similar to what Microsoft did many years ago and got in big trouble for it.
US Vs. Microsoft
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

A Boycott should be more than just Macrumors members. All apple users should boycott Walmart.
 
have you all checked how many employees does wal mart have?
about a gazilion.

if they don;t get it their way then they push the government nad comitees to put the presure on certain issues concering the one they want to hurt.

imagine let's say that wal mat due to this apple deal with all studios will make a statemnet saying we lost 10% or our revenues so we will lay off 10% of our employess to cover for the losses.!!

now what do you do in this case?
it's not a free world after all....

not for those who have the power !
 
How could Wal Mart feel threatened by anything.

They are more powerful than most countries.

the ITMS has been kickin in full swing for years now, and Wal Mart still leads in CD sales, and music distribution by a long shot.

I hope this goes really public and gets exposed through the media, so everyone knows what WM is trying to do.


I would have loved to hear the phone call between Jobs and Lee.
 
FYI, for those that say "who cares about Walmart" there is this little fact (of which I'm not going to sight a source because I'm busy at work).
Walmart sells 40% of all DVDs sold in the US.
Think about that. Of all the places that sell DVDs, of all the places people go, 4 of every 10 is bought at walmart. That is ridicules power, and not something the studios will just gloss over. They will make sure they know what they are doing before making steps forward. Maybe it won't matter at all, but it isn't a number to just ignore.
 
Speaking as someone who has 3 wal-mart supercenters within 5 miles of them, I can definetely say that they don't need any more money... is a few million a little meager for the likes of the children?

what is wal mart going to do, get rid of the ipods, which give them revenue? also, does anyone remember them going insane over the apple music store?
 
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