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Wal-Mart to Sell $99 4GB iPhone?

ferlauto said:
If Wal-Mart does become an iPhone reseller, it will make me think about Apple's long term commitment to quality because for Wal-Mart the only thing that matters is simply price; product quality is a secondary issue.
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The iPod lineup is already being sold at Walmart -- I don't think you can argue that product quality has gone down because of that. I also don't think the iPhone will suffer quality-wise because of Walmart either.

Personally, I've decided not to give my own dollars to Walmart if at all possible -- but that doesn't mean that Apple should avoid them. And just because Walmart sells Apple products doesn't mean that suddenly Apple should be lumped in the same category as Walmart either.

Apple obviously recognizes that Walmart has access to customers that may never even see an Apple store in their life. They also see that Walmart sells a ton of cell phones. Therefore, they realize that to avoid Walmart because it's not upscale would be stupid.

I'm sure that Apple is working closely with Walmart to guide them on how to appropriately sell the iPhone. And I'm sure that there will be some issues that come to light early on. But seeing how Apple has worked in the past shows that all of this will be resolved -- if not, Apple and Walmart will go their separate ways just as they did years ago when Walmart sold Macs.
 
Bernie-Mac said:
Lol, your welcome. I dont have a problem with it but i know some people who buy Apple products will. And look at the razr now, who has them? I know i dont want the iPhone to go down that path
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I don't want the iPhone ever becoming a poor product either(ala Razr), but the high sales? Why not? The iPod has high sales and its still great.
 
judolphin said:
You call people hypocrites and expect them not to get defensive? Been around humans much?
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yes, quite often. thank you. however, if you would just read and not get fired up, you'd realize that it's only a statement. don't get me wrong, i understand both sides. i just thought it was funny that elitists get flamed in a "how dare you" sort of way. you have to admit, scolding them makes you seem like you think you're better...
 
Re: 4gb iPhone

I think a lot of people here are missing the fact that the 4gb iPhone is still a decent device. My wife has been using one for almost a year now and she still hasn't filled it up. If/when a 32gb model comes out, I will be upgrading and passing my 8gb model to her -- I'm pretty much assuming that she'll never end up filling up that space.
 
fleshman03 said:
So you're averaging around 11mb/per app. Not bad.

why do you need 113 apps? you'd rather have them than not?
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Lots of them are games (60%) games for the grand kids.

Some I use on a regular basis (15%)

Others I downloaded because I like the concept and/or want to see how it was implemented from a developer's perspective.

The others are largely unused... I've just been too lazy to go through and delete them, as I have plenty of storage


Dick
 
As long as the contract requires that I pay for "web access" (which I won't use), then I guess I'll still pass on the iPhone. I use a Motorola Q (privately purchased, not from my carrier) and have my "normal" (phone only) service with Alltel. I get the advantages of combining my calendar, contacts, and phone on one device (which is what I'd want to do with the iPhone) but I don't have to pay for the web access nonsense.

There's that "umbrella" mentioned in the article: People who would like to buy an iPhone but want it as a smart phone and not some sort of cheesy web browser. That is the market for the $99 iPhone. I'd even switch to AT&T for that. But by the time Steve and AT&T realize they've missed this boat (and they don't even know the boat is there), I'll find another touch-screen smartphone on eBay that will essentially duplicate the iPhone experience (the web-less part) and I'll still be on Alltel, not AT&T (which, after all, is the point of the iPhone, right?).

*sigh*
 
mike12806 said:
Personally, I'd rather see Apple concentrating on an awesome iPhone 3.0 software update, or new hardware, rather than cutting prices. Once they start competing just on price, you lose the need to innovate!
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They're still highly subsidized by AT&T, so Apple's still getting their bags of gold. Again... people are complaining about lower out of pocket prices for themselves, which is, IMHO, madness.
 
macfearless said:
yes, quite often. thank you. however, if you would just read and not get fired up, you'd realize that it's only a statement. don't get me wrong, i understand both sides. i just thought it was funny that elitists get flamed in a "how dare you" sort of way. you have to admit, scolding them makes you seem like you think you're better...
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I'm shocked there are people in the world that get sad about low prices. Someone else's quality of life was raised just a tiny bit -- a new luxury is now within their grasp -- and all they can think about is that someone else's raised quality of life makes them feel a bit less special. They're concerned the new clientele may be "beneath" them. Anyone whose mind works this way openly has my contempt.
 
Not a bad business strategy

Apple would then sign up millions more, resulting in them owning the hand held computing sector. This is kind of what Windows did for home computing, and look at how hard is to budge them, even now.
 
NOOOOO!!

Apple is trying to tap into another market segment.

Now Joe Bob (my brother-in-law) will start coming over to use my mac to load itunes on his new iphone. All the out-laws I mean in-laws will start coming over.
 
fleshman03 said:
I never said it was natural rarity.
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rumplestiltskin said:
As long as the contract requires that I pay for "web access" (which I won't use), then I guess I'll still pass on the iPhone. I use a Motorola Q (privately purchased, not from my carrier) and have my "normal" (phone only) service with Alltel. I get the advantages of combining my calendar, contacts, and phone on one device (which is what I'd want to do with the iPhone) but I don't have to pay for the web access nonsense.

There's that "umbrella" mentioned in the article: People who would like to buy an iPhone but want it as a smart phone and not some sort of cheesy web browser. That is the market for the $99 iPhone. I'd even switch to AT&T for that. But by the time Steve and AT&T realize they've missed this boat (and they don't even know the boat is there), I'll find another touch-screen smartphone on eBay that will essentially duplicate the iPhone experience (the web-less part) and I'll still be on Alltel, not AT&T (which, after all, is the point of the iPhone, right?).

*sigh*
Click to expand...

This is very true. Not everyone wants to access the web for browsing at all. Especially if the browser can't read flash or access certain parts of the web.

For me, I just don't like paying a premium for sub-par web access speeds on AT&T's network, and I will never own a phone that when dropped shatters like glass... and there is no insurance option given by the company that makes it, or the cell company.
 
rumplestiltskin said:
As long as the contract requires that I pay for "web access" (which I won't use), then I guess I'll still pass on the iPhone. I use a Motorola Q (privately purchased, not from my carrier) and have my "normal" (phone only) service with Alltel. I get the advantages of combining my calendar, contacts, and phone on one device (which is what I'd want to do with the iPhone) but I don't have to pay for the web access nonsense.

There's that "umbrella" mentioned in the article: People who would like to buy an iPhone but want it as a smart phone and not some sort of cheesy web browser. That is the market for the $99 iPhone. I'd even switch to AT&T for that. But by the time Steve and AT&T realize they've missed this boat (and they don't even know the boat is there), I'll find another touch-screen smartphone on eBay that will essentially duplicate the iPhone experience (the web-less part) and I'll still be on Alltel, not AT&T (which, after all, is the point of the iPhone, right?).

*sigh*
Click to expand...

I can see your point on this. I've never had internet on any of my phones. Mainly because of iTunes, I'm waiting on a 32gb iPhone, but when I do finally get one I'm sure I'd use the internet occasionally. But if they did offer a plan for just voice minutes, I'd be all over that. I'd have no issue manually syncing the phone.

Unfortunately AT&T and Apple both assume consumers want a do-it-all phone.
 
Digital Skunk said:
For me, I just don't like paying a premium for sub-par web access speeds on AT&T's network, and I will never own a phone that when dropped shatters like glass... and there is no insurance option given by the company that makes it, or the cell company.
Click to expand...

I never thought of that. Thanks! Now I am starting to question getting an iPhone. Both my cell phone and iPod have taken a few tumbles each :confused:
 
smooth said:
I can see your point on this. I've never had internet on any of my phones. Mainly because of iTunes, I'm waiting on a 32gb iPhone, but when I do finally get one I'm sure I'd use the internet occasionally. But if they did offer a plan for just voice minutes, I'd be all over that. I'd have no issue manually syncing the phone.

Unfortunately AT&T and Apple both assume consumers want a do-it-all phone.
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Very true. I'd have one for my freelance if I could get it pre-paid. Other than that, there's no options.

The sad part is that the iPhone still isn't a do-it-all phone. For most users it's just about having an iPod, phone, and gaming toy in one device. After that, the iPhone is done. It's by no means a smartphone.

smooth said:
I never thought of that. Thanks! Now I am starting to question getting an iPhone. Both my cell phone and iPod have taken a few tumbles each :confused:
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No problem. Not too many people do think about it. Even users that have insurance on their AT&T phones prior to owning an iPhone don't consider that the insurance, and their texts will fall off, and only texts can be put back on.

Check this kid out and what happened to his iPod Touch, which has the same glass screen as the iPhone.
 
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Sky Blue said:
I've heard Family Dollar is going to sell a 1GB version.
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...for FREE with a contract?

Actually, a 4Gig one now for $99 could be reduced to FREE later!
 
judolphin said:
I'm shocked there are people in the world that get sad about low prices. Someone else's quality of life was raised just a tiny bit -- a new luxury is now within their grasp -- and all they can think about is that someone else's raised quality of life makes them feel a bit less special. They're concerned the new clientele may be "beneath" them. Anyone whose mind works this way openly has my contempt.
Click to expand...

i too find it sad. like i said i understand both sides, i didn't choose a side. just thought i'd be neutral and point something out. being a daily apple user for many years now, i've benefited from lowered pricing.
 
until walmart starts exercising fair labor practices, stops union-busting, is more friendly to the environment . . . i'll never buy this iphone, or anything from walmart. but that'll never happen. so i guess i'm out.

good from sales perspective from apple, bad for the rest of the world . . .
 
gkarris said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)



...for FREE with a contract?

Actually, a 4Gig one now for $99 could be reduced to FREE later!
Click to expand...

No. It's $69.99. Nothing with an Apple seal on it is free. Come'on you should know that.
 
smooth said:
I can see your point on this. I've never had internet on any of my phones. Mainly because of iTunes, I'm waiting on a 32gb iPhone, but when I do finally get one I'm sure I'd use the internet occasionally. But if they did offer a plan for just voice minutes, I'd be all over that. I'd have no issue manually syncing the phone.

Unfortunately AT&T and Apple both assume consumers want a do-it-all phone.
Click to expand...

I think you are the exception...

The trend I see is: the user of content wants it all available, on demand: wherever, whenever.

Content includes business data, location of nearby (whatever), music/video, comparative prices, restaurant menus, stock quotes, driving directions, mom's recipe for crawfish etouffe, or access to that old photo in my collection at home.

The current pipelines for this are Cable/DSL, WiFi and cell radio access to the Internet.

I've said this in a few other posts:

When I leave the house, I take my wallet, keys and iPhone.

In the near future, I hope to reduce this to the iPhone only!

Dick
 
RIM is certainly in the $99 segment, so bringing in a full iPhone with just less memory would be quite reasonable.
 
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