WALMART!=EVIL.
Where do I start.....
Everyone loves to beat on Walmart because they are successful. That's the nature of the beast once you become popular, but my arguement is that this is going to be nothing but good for Apple, if it's true. Walmart has stores in alot mroe places then Apple does. I think what soem are worried about is that these stores start selling the iPod Shuffle and then Macs and and ......because Walmart can do it better and in more places, those nice and beautiful Apple Stores will shutdown. Gateway tried the same thing at about the same time Apple did, but they were not as successful at it and all of thier stores are now closed. Gateway's problem was not that they didn't do it right. They did. Their stores were equally as nice as the Apple store, with the exception of one thing....I could not walk in and walk out with a computer in hand. I can do this at ANY Apple store (unless I want a Mac Mini). Apple will continue to do this right. Unless they are really successful, you won't see the G5 at Walmart....ever. You just might see the Mac Mini at Walmart and Sam's.
Walmart, in some cases, does not kill communities. In some cases it saves them. Alot of times, I have found, Mom and Pop stores charge MORE then alot of stores because they CAN. If they are the only store in a small town, they can charge anything they want. What choice do you have? Well, if it's not food, you can order it on the internet but with food, you can only drive so far away. Most people do not have a refrgerated trunk. That milk will spoil if your not home in enough time. I will say that the farthest you can go to the store is abotu 30 miles away. Most cold and frozen stuff can't reliably last much longer than 30 minutes with out refrigeration. So for YEARS some communities may pay far more for thier food because they have no choice. Same thing goes with other items....the local Amateur Radio Store here typically is higher than say HRO. They charge the price they charge because they can. People are willing to go to the local store because if they have a problem with it, they can take it back rather then shipping it back. Sometimes it may just be operator error and the store can show you how to fix your problem. This reason is why I do pay mroe then buying it online. The local store survives. If HRO opens up a store in my area (they likely would not), and they are priced cheaper, the store I have been going to will nto get my money. Same goes for Walmart. It's not Walmart's fault they are successful in getting lower prices where the mom and pop's are not. Sure, Walmart has more clout because of the size of thier organization is, but you know what....anyone want to GUESS how Walmart started? IT WAS A MOM AND POP! Same goes with Meijer, another successful Mom and Pop. Also, any company the size of either of these chains is going to gain negaive publicity. The honest thing is most people could care less.
Walmart opened their store in Rogers, AK in 1962. By 1967, they already has 24 stores. By 1971, they had 38 stores in 5 states. Walmart's IPO on the NYSE was in 1972. In contrast, Meijer still has not had a IPO. They are still owned, to this day, by the Meijer Family. While not as large as Walmart, they still are a force to be reckoned with in the midwest. Meijer pioneered the superstore. Walmart was just late to that party as was Kmart. In any case, before you start complaining that Walmart is bad, be open minded and read about the positive things they do which are FAR more prevelent, I find, with Walmart then they are given credit for.
Also, I have not seen nore heard a single story that Walmart refuses to hire union workers. Walmart legally can do nothing to stop the unionization of it's workers. It's entirely legal for Walmart to give a pay raise and satisfy all of the gripes the workers have for starting a union. If they do that and the employees choose not to unionize, then what is so wrong with that? Unions were once needed because almost ALL for profit companies were screwing their employees. I contend now, with the current governmental controls, theirs MORE power in negotiating your own benefits, if you can. Your voice can be heard if youc an talk to management. Once your unionized, your only voice is to your union rep who SHOULD share what you said with management, but likely will shape it with his own agenda. You have more power if you can directly go to management and voice your opinion with the promise that the management doesn't punish you for a idea. Unions are set up by the companies workers. Their can be a Walmart Workers Union or the workers can choose to associate with the UFCW or some other union. The fact that there are not Unions in alot of Walmart stores indicates, to me, that the employees are generally happy.
My personal experience with Walmart is entirely positive. They help out in the community and are a good community citizen. Also almost every employee I have met at a Walmart have been mostly happy to be there. Oh sure, noone can ever be completely happy at work, but most of the employees I have met were genuine and helpful.
So back to the subject at hand, is this a good thing for Apple? Well, if it sells at Walmart well, it's a awesome thing for Apple. Not only do they sell more iPods, but they also get the ancillary sales from iTMS. If Walmart sells enough iPods, I bet we'll see a resurgence and Mac Mini's will also be added and possibly a Mac software section. Eventually, Apple will start to gain ground on Wintel and I personally don't care how it would happen, but if the Mac starts to outsell Wintel, it would only be a god thing. People are getting tired of being screwed by that cheap PC they bought at Walmart with a shoddy OS that allows virii and worms to proliferate. The archetecture of Mac OS X, while not bomb proof, it is much better then Windows and less susceptible to viruses. Sure, it woudl come under attack more the more popular it becomes, but it's alot harder to find a bug in a OS that has as it's two catch phrases: it just works and it's simple.
I wanted to add something...I find it ironic that Teresa HEINZ Kerry who has made many negative comments about Walmart, still sells Ketchup at Walmart.
