Wal-Mart to Sell $99 4GB iPhone?

[TitoC]

Agreed(ish). I'm sick and tired of Apple using RAM as a delineating factor in the massive price differences between models. iPod Touchs (or Touches?) and iPhones are both very different in price just because of a few Gbs of RAM.

I'm sorry, but 8Gb of RAM to take you to from 8 to 16Gb does not cost $100, even with a reasonable mark-up. And if it did, Apple should go ahead, balls out, and charge $399 for a 32Gb. Actually, that's kind of what they do with the iPod Touch: 8/16/32 are $229/$299/$399 respectively.

These things should be priced $99/$139/$199 for the 8/16/32Gb respectively. They would probably sell about 10%/40%/50% (figures plucked out of the air/my a$$) and do very well on it thank you very much.

Is it me or are you referring to storage sizes or physical memory as RAM? There is quite a bit of difference between the two. The iPhones and the iPod Touches all use roughly the same amount of RAM. From what I've read it has 128MB of RAM of which 11MB is for integrated graphics.

Now if you want to talk about storage space (4 Gb, 8 Gb, 16 Gb, etc.) that's a different story. Please use the proper terminology.

 

[mike12806]

This strategy: steep devaluation of the product line following a massive movement of units.

Short term gain, long term FAIL.

Ahem...cough....sounds like the RAZR product timeline, eh?

 

[fleshman03]

I have 2 3G iPhones that I just recently upgraded to from my 2 8GB EDGE iPhones. I pay for the monthly bill and guess what, I shop at Walmart.

There are way to many people out there that get this personification that if you shop at Walmart then you must be poor. It's an incredibly ignorant stereotype to throw out. Walmart has good deals on a lot of things and they don't just sell junk. A lot of the stuff they sell are the same brands and models everyone else sells. What's the big deal? Just because they sell things cheaper it must mean the people that shop there can't afford to shop at designer stores? No. It means the people that shop there are smart and aren't going to spend more money on something just because they don't want to be caught in the Walmart parking lot.

Get real.

Lol. See my post above yours.

 

[shaneglass]

But as far as employee treatment goes, they are way down the totem pole compared to Starbucks. What's the percentage of employees that have REAL benefits at Walmart compared to Starbucks? Look it up. It's not such a pretty picture now, is it? Walmart still treats their employees with disdain and disgust and they always have.

I had 2 friends that worked at 2 different Walmarts and they both were treated like crap. No health benefits, no stock options, nothing. Every time they tried to work a real 40 hour shift, they mysteriously had their scheduled changed so that they were only scheduled for 35-38 hours a week so they would not get benefits. Shameful is what it is. Starbucks on the other hand at least has real benefits, stock options, etc. no matter how many hours you work. They were the first coffee corporation that started buying and selling free-trade coffee before it was fashionable. Now I am not saying that they are perfect, but saying that Walmart is BETTER than Starbucks is going a bit too far for me. If people would stop dissing Starbucks just because they are Starbucks and actually doing some research on the subject, we might have a real discussion here. Otherwise it's just rhetoric.

Walmart considers associates 'full-time' if they work 34 or more hours a week. So your friends weren't stripped of benefits for that, or at least shouldn't have been. As far as benefits, you have to be employed for different amounts of time for different benefits. My Walmart recently offered a wide range of insurance to an unprecedented amount of associates, myself included. I declined the offer. Also, MyShare gives associates returns on their store's performance. Our MyShare will be at least $200 on next week's paycheck, plus an extra $400 for our credit card application performance in our region. A $600 bonus for me doing my job is pretty good.

 

[fleshman03]

Is it me or are you referring to storage sizes or physical memory as RAM? There is quite a bit of difference between the two. The iPhones and the iPod Touches all use roughly the same amount of RAM. From what I've read it has 128MB of RAM of which 11MB is for integrated graphics.

Now if you want to talk about storage space (4 Gb, 8 Gb, 16 Gb, etc.) that's a different story. Please use the proper terminology.

To complicate matters, I believe these devices can their storage as a type of virtual RAM. It's also a bit quicker than the older, HDD based virtual RAM.

I do agree that the posted just doesn't understand the concept of RAM and Storage.

 

[randyedmonds]

I believe it

I tend to believe this story. The reason it sounds right is because when the iPhone was first release, back in Jan 07, Steve Jobs gave a number of interviews and in them he said "I wish we could sell them for $100... when we can eveyone is going to want one..."

Forward to 3:48 in this interview to hear Steve Jobs say he wishes he could sell it for $100.
http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#

 

[Noodlefarmer]

WalMart

A lot of you guys are funny. Don't like WalMart, but are OK with Starbucks. Starbucks doesn't exactly treat their employees great. Pretty obvious elitist attitude. Which cracks me up. On one hand you want to see Apple stock rise and the company to do well. But only if they sell to certain people in certain stores? Can't have the riff-raff carrying around an iPhone. Kind of makes it less special. Can't have it both ways unfortunately. If you want to see Apple continue to gain in the computer and mobile markets, they are going to have to sell to people who are just not as hip as you.

I always liked the exclusivity of using Macs, etc., and of converting PC users, but when you start laying ground rules as to who can sell and who can buy, how can you expect Apple to continue to grow?

Typical liberal elitist attitude.

 

[greggov]

If this truly pans out to be the case, at&t better offer a cheaper data plan for this. I wouldn't want to shell out 100 bucks for a 4 GB iPhone and have to pay the huge data tariff.

Why? The phone has all the same features of the 8 and 16GB. Same unlimited data plan with visual voicemail and all that jazz. While different data plans that are priced differently would make sense (which of course is why they won't do it ), you still have access to the network, just the same as those with the bigger iPhones.

 

[bruinsrme]

I think this is a great marketing plan. A $100 iPhone will attract more people. Get them into the 4gb phone and when they spend so much time managing so little memory the may begin to look to upgrade.
AT&T gets a new 2 year contract and walmart makes a little chunk of change.

With the economy is disarray a couple can now get into the iPhone for the price of what he 8gb is running

 

[chuckiej]

This just seems like a very bad idea. You have to have iPods there but iPhones? It seems ridiculous to not offer a nice Black Friday discount in your own stores but then put your landmark product in THE discount retailer? Just cut the price to $149 and $249 everywhere!

 

[shaneglass]

I call BS, sorry 3 out of your only 4 posts to macrumors have been in this thread only!! And, no walmart "store" employees like yourself are covered by Apple's NDA, so I find it HIGHLY unlikely that you have access to information that has not been publicly announced by Apple....

On a different note, Apple may be adapting to the "new" economy of sorts....Wal-Mart looks to be one of the only retailers who will increase sales this holiday season....and it makes sense for Apple to want to take advantage of this. Yes, Apple computers will ALWAYS be a higher-end, premium, and more expensive product....but this doesn't mean Apple can't compete in the lower end with iPods and iPhones. Look at the iPod shuffle people!

Of course I'm posting more on this thread, I sent MacRumors the blasted picture.

And I don't know how you expect anyone (Walmart or Apple employee alike) to sell the iPhone without prior training and knowledge. Oh wait, that's right, Walmart is gonna throw its employees to the wolves on Dec 28th and let them find out for themselves while customers wait.

Go ahead, call BS. I don't care, because I know it isn't. I took the picture, I flipped through the manuals.

Like I said, funny that people interject their 'knowledge' of Apple into everything.

 

[fleshman03]

A lot of you people need to understand the concept of a Union. If the employees feel mistreated, they should have the chance to form a union and bargain collectively for better conditions and wages.

I can understand people complaining about WalMart and their union busting techniques. That is a different argument.

 

[mike12806]

Of course I'm posting more on this thread, I sent MacRumors the blasted picture.

And I don't know how you expect anyone (Walmart or Apple employee alike) to sell the iPhone without prior training and knowledge. Oh wait, that's right, Walmart is gonna throw its employees to the wolves on Dec 28th and let them find out for themselves while customers wait.

Go ahead, call BS. I don't care, because I know it isn't. I took the picture, I flipped through the manuals.

Like I said, funny that people interject their 'knowledge' of Apple into everything.

Apple routinely makes retailers aware of product launches on the day they publicly announce them....even to their own Apple retail stores....maybe you need to read into your knowledge of Apple a little bit deeper....

 

[Tomorrow]

Uhhhhh... I don't see Wal-Mart customers being able to afford a (US)$90+ a month cell phone bill. I'm not being mean, I'm just telling the truth.

You'd be surprised. I shop at Wal-Mart and my cell phone family plan is in the $140-150 range each month. Two car payments, mortgage, student loans, etc. - typical middle-class, I suppose.

Rest assured that, depending on the location, I can go to Wal-Mart and see a majority of customers that I would suppose are in very much the same boat.

 

[Eidorian]

I'd be interested in a 4 GB iPhone for the phone part instead of the iPod part. Make it pay as you go and I'll be in line for it.

Everyone I know shops at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club regardless of income. From me to my siblings that make $70K/year.

 

[shaneglass]

Apple routinely makes retailers aware of product launches on the day they publicly announce them....even to their own Apple retail stores....maybe you need to read into your knowledge of Apple a little bit deeper....

"So, Walmart employees, here's the best-selling smartphone this year. You're going to start selling it today. No training, nothing like that."

Riiiight.

Why read up on Apple knowledge when I can just ask you?

 

[dicklacara]

Why badmouth walmart?

In the 1970's-1980's I owned some computer stores in Silicon Valley. We sold Apple and IBM computers... and we had both companies as significant customers for emerging technologies such as LANS, etc,

Both Apple and IBM were quite difficult to deal with as Vendors... you played by their rules, or not at all, case closed!

As Customers, both organizations were easy to deal with... allowing flexibility in a fast-changing world.

We sold the stores, and retired to Arizona in 1989. My wife started a small Southwestern arts and crafts business. Among others, she signed up 3 local Wal-Marts as customers. They were a pleasure to deal with and often showcased our products (Holiday Aisles, end caps, multiple placement within the stores).

Often, my wife and I would go together to the stores to restock/refresh our products, handle returns or just to see how things were selling. Without exception, these were pleasant encounters.

We did some shopping at Wal-Mart and found the stores to be clean, well-stocked and crowded at almost any time of day.... that ain't bad!

Lots of assistants and checkers!

They are damn good at what they do!

The point of all this... I have better shopping experience with walmart than most speciality electronics stores or cell phone stores.

I see no reason to think that "wallmart selling iPhone" will demean the iPhone or Apple.

HTH

Dick

 

[klittle32]

Would the 4gb iphone in question be 3g?

 

[shaneglass]

Would the 4gb iphone in question be 3g?

There is no 4GB in question. There will not be one according to the manuals. Just what we've already seen.

 

[sfh]

Don't know, but it's also on their website:

http://www.walmart.com/

right after they lost their smiley face lawsuit where they were trying to sue people for using a smiley face (they thought that they "Owned"it

 

[greggov]

A lot of you guys are funny. Don't like WalMart, but are OK with Starbucks. Starbucks doesn't exactly treat their employees great. Pretty obvious elitist attitude.

Several of my good friends work at Starbucks (within the last six to eight months) so I can't say how the employees used to be treated, but my friends get pretty good benefits from working there. There's actually a lot of perks, enough of them that I considered working there for a while to help pay the bills while I looked for a full time job (tough time finding finance/accounting work in the NYC area...might be something to do with the economy? I digress)

Walmart can be talked about and debated til we're all blue in the face. I believe Walmart is cleaning up its act and trying to rebrand and reposition itself, and whether or not its too little too late can also be debated.

But if it helps Apple sell more phones, isn't that good? Good for the company, drive the share price up, and allow them to keep innovating. And hey, it's also more users to complain to Apple (and us) about lack of features Maybe there will be so many people complaining Apple will have to listen? Wishful thinking, I know. I can dream though, right?

 

[tonyl]

a 4GB 3G iPhone? Nice!

 

[upekkharich]

elitist mentality and physiological manifestations thereof

WOW, the elitist menatlity and psychological manifestations thereof on this thread are eye-opening. Physical sickness when entering a store? If the answer is yes, then you, my friend, have a problem differentiating market forces from reality.

Walmart shoppers are people just like Target, Macy's, Kroger and Bloomingdale's shoppers. To assume that your physical make-up does not permit your entrance into one or the other is judgmental and rude. If you were born in the same skin as the person who shops at the other place, and walked the same path as the person who shopped in the other place you would be the one shopping in the other place.

Walmart is no worse than Target, but, if so, only by a fraction of a degree. Both are guilty of sending manufacturing jobs to Taiwan or Bangladesh. But only because the US consumer demands the low price. The US company owners selling their foreign-made wares to US companies demand a big profit, the US worker demands a higher wage, the US consumer demands a low price.

You are in the circle, I am in the circle, and they are in the circle. None of us can escape the circle by avoiding ONE store or TWO stores today, nor tomorrow. We can only change the circle in very small ways, but we can change the circle by changing our habits, demands, and perceptions.

Please, friends, stop judging others who make different choices than you. If you can do so you might feel less illness in your head and in your stomach.

 

[fleshman03]

In the 1970's-1980's I owned some computer stores in Silicon Valley. We sold Apple and IBM computers... and we had both companies as significant customers for emerging technologies such as LANS, etc,

Both Apple and IBM were quite difficult to deal with as Vendors... you played by their rules, or not at all, case closed!

As Customers, both organizations were easy to deal with... allowing flexibility in a fast-changing world.

We sold the stores, and retired to Arizona in 1989. My wife started a small Southwestern arts and crafts business. Among others, she signed up 3 local Wal-Marts as customers. They were a pleasure to deal with and often showcased our products (Holiday Aisles, end caps, multiple placement within the stores).

Often, my wife and I would go together to the stores to restock/refresh our products, handle returns or just to see how things were selling. Without exception, these were pleasant encounters.

We did some shopping at Wal-Mart and found the stores to be clean, well-stocked and crowded at almost any time of day.... that ain't bad!

Lots of assistants and checkers!

They are damn good at what they do!

The point of all this... I have better shopping experience with walmart than most speciality electronics stores or cell phone stores.

I see no reason to think that "wallmart selling iPhone" will demean the iPhone or Apple.

HTH

Dick

In my experience it really depends on which store you go to.

There is one by my school that is just horrible to do to. I don't really want my girlfriend to go there after dark. You will wait at least 45 minutes in line. Security at the AirPort is better than this. Dirty with products all over the floor.

Contrast that with the WalMart by my Apartment. This place is nice, clean and has a supermarket inside of it. I rarely see anything on the floor or people putting things away. I've gone there at 2am and did not fear for my life. Lines are still a pain in the ass, but it's walmart!

 

[UbuntuFu]

I'll believe it when I see it. Costco would of been the more plausible rumor.