Wal-Mart to start selling iPhone Sunday

This post was updated at 9:41 a.m. PST with more details from Wal-Mart.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Wal-Mart on Friday confirmed that it will be selling Apple's iPhone 3G, beginning Sunday at about 2,500 stores. The price, with a new two-year service agreement with AT&T (or qualified upgrade), is $197 for the black 8GB model and $297 for the black or white 16GB version.

"We are delighted to bring customers this ground-breaking mobile technology," Gary Severson, Wal-Mart senior vice president of entertainment, said in a statement. "Our electronics associates have been preparing for many weeks for the arrival of iPhone 3G."

And some of them let the cat out of the bag a little early, as CNET News' Marguerite Reardon noted several weeks ago.

The popular smartphones are currently available at Apple retail stores, AT&T stores, and at Best Buy, where the 8GB phone is sold for $199 and 16GB phones are sold for $299.

Wal-Mart's iPhone offering amounts to two dollars in savings and negates, for now anyway, the rumored 4GB model that some had speculated Wal-Mart would sell for $99.

Wal-Mart will be staffing Apple iPhone 3G kiosks located in the Wal-Mart Connection Center in the store's home entertainment department.

[basraw]

INCORRECT best buy pricing. Best Buy is selling 8GB @ $189.99 and the 16GB version @ $289.99.

Look at their website. 12/19 through 1/3

[Idyot]

So they're on sale for $10 below the regular price. Big woof.

[Dalkorian]

Better than selling your soul to prostitute mart for a whole whopping $2. My gawd, how much do you have to hate yourself to do that?

[wowza3]

Wow michelle maybe do some research before assuming prices of other retailers

[Cheetahjab]

wow what a worth while and well constructed pointless comment.. wowza indeed.

[aka_tripleB]

Stop picking on Michelle. There is a difference between a selling price and a sale price. And if she would have put the sale price, the price would be wrong more than as it is now. It's not her job to report sales for items. Sure, she could have mentioned it's currently on sale, but that's a judgment call. Like it or hate it, it was hers to make.

[deftdrummer]

The point is not the price here people - it's the fact that the iphone will now be offered to millions of customers that previously did not have access to the iphone. THAT is the real news.

[mikebellman]

What? Who didn't have access to the iPhone before? It's still AT&T service, credit check and all.

[jtaylorhoopla]

People without a official AT&T store in there town. I only have 1 here. So, people will have access to it that didn't before.

[mrcockrell]

are you F***ing retarded?... anyone with internet, a telephone or a car has access to an iPhone.. they have access to anything else they might want too

[mikebellman]

I've been going to a different Walmart every coupla' days asking "do you sell the iPhone?"

4 days before that it was "NO [with a smirk]"

2 days ago, I got a "not yet, but soon" confirmation.
I am sad it's not going to be at a good non-contract price point. It's time that Apple stops jailbreaking the iPhone. ALl but 2 of the people I know who unlocked theirs eventually signed up so they could have the benefit of syncing mobile me and other awesome network benefits.

[pablouk1]

Good to know America still getting good deals whereas Europe is still getting shafted by this over priced toy and Apple.

[Perry_Clease]

Troll

[HeavyJim]

I bet you make the "Troll" comment even when people are bashing microsoft. Is if fun?

[Perry_Clease]

No it isn't fun, but just like taking out the garbage, cleaning up vomit, or sweeping land mines it is one of those crappy jobs that someone has to do because no one else has the guts to do it.

He made a dumb ass troll statement and got called out on it.

[tech-deals]

AT&T has refurbished 8GB iPhone 3G phones for just $99. I found it on TechDealDigger here: http://www.techdealdigger.com/deals/apple-iphone-3g-8gb-99-at-att-wireless/5886

[Marchioly_Torma]

Perry, he has a point. Everything Apple sells in Europe is far more expensive.

http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTE2NTQ

vs

http://www.apple.com/iphone/buy/

342 pounds vs 200 dollars. See the difference?

I'm sorry, but you must be the one trolling.

[Someone-else]

It's still cheaper than R$2000(about US$1000) plus around R$200 every month.

[HeavyJim]

Some hate wallyworld for selling foreign made junk, does this prove them right?

[Marchioly_Torma]

If that is the case, then the iPhone must be foreign junk. It's made in China.

[lavkidd]

Still foreign made... just very overpriced... R&D should have been paid off long ago...
If they unlocked the iPhone to your CHOICE of carrier, then it MAY be worth the price tag...
Or quit putting out the software updates to negate the unlocked phones...
Either way, the ATT contract negates the worth of the technology...

[fleurya]

Companies sell things for the price the market will bear. If the iPhone is overpriced in your country, then people won't buy it. If they buy it, it's at the right price. The only thing you can do is not buy it, hope others don't and get them to lower the price. If you owned the company you'd probably do the same thing. News flash, they're in it for the money.

It's like sports stadium and movie theaters selling a cup of Pepsi for $5.00 when a convenience store next door sells it for $1.00. But overall that cup of pepsi only costs about $0.20. Get over it!!

[MacJumba]

wat is a big differents of 2 dollars
and i dont know what to get the iphone 3g or the blackberry storm or the g1
i hope brian tong can help us with this

[nonstoplay]

Although this is still a rumor, it really makes sense in light of Apple's recent partnership with Wal-Mart. Wal-mart, as you know, caters to price-conscious (and who isn't these days) consumers. By offering a "slimmed" down version of the iPhone (both physically and feature-wise) at a lower price (say $100.00 new), Apple has the most direct route to these price-conscious consumers, with the added benefit of Wal-mart also serving as an additional distributor of the full-featured iPhones. I really does make sense.

[geofbrewer]

It's fun reading these after the fact. Walmart signed a non-disclosure agreement with Apple about annoucing the iPhone before 28 Dec. Thus the disclaimers by Walmart associates. My wife received training on the iPhone. She was favorably impressed by the ease of use and navigation, BUT she stated "I'd buy one, if I had a use for it." Pretty much sums it up. I think Walmart and Apple have misjudged the demand for the device.