Analyst: Wal-Mart looking to sell Macs
Is Wal-Mart flirting with Apple? That's what one analyst believes is behind the retailer's newly beefed-up electronics section that's being rolled out over the next few weeks.
The world's largest retailer by revenue is doing a splashy makeover of its tech section, but there are many reasons behind the move: By building up its high-definition TV and Blu-ray home theater offerings, Wal-Mart is looking to pick up where the now-defunct Circuit City stores left off. There are also a couple of new smart phones debuting soon, including the much-anticipated Palm Pre, which Palm said Tuesday would be available at Wal-Mart in addition to Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Sprint stores.
Could Wal-Mart soon be selling MacBooks?
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)But Ben Reitzes, an analyst with Barclays Capital, sees Wal-Mart's makeover as part of an elaborate flirtation with Apple that would result in the retailer being allowed to sell Mac hardware, which AppleInsider noted Tuesday.
"We believe Wal-Mart is actively pitching Apple to carry more products," he wrote. "With Wal-Mart improving its retail displays, we believe that the mega-retailer could eventually earn the right to sell select Mac products without diluting Apple's brand."
There are several reasons why this could be possible. First, the two are already friendly--iPods and iPhones can be found on Wal-Mart shelves. And Apple does allow Macs to be sold by third-party retailers, which right now includes Best Buy. Apple has employed the "store-within-a-store" concept at Best Buy, where Apple-trained salespeople help customers looking at Apple products on cookie-cutter Apple product displays (minimalist light-grain wood tables, surrounded by Apple signage). There's no reason this can't be replicated within the walls of Wal-Mart, which could be a good option should Apple and Best Buy some day choose to part ways again.
Plus, while there are 10,000 places to buy a Mac at retail right now, only about 225 of those are official Apple Stores. And, as Reitzes points out, Wal-Marts are located in places without an Apple Store for miles--sometimes not even in the same state. Putting Macs in Wal-Mart would definitely get Macs in front of more prospective buyers.
But then again, does Apple really need to do that? Apple's market share in North America stands at about 7.5 percent, and there's arguably not a lot of opportunity to increase that in any significant way. And while Mac sales are dropping, traditional computer hardware is not the focus of Apple's business going forward. The iPhone is going to be the focus, and the reason that is available in Wal-Mart is because there IS still a huge opportunity to grab share in the smartphone market.
There are also plenty of other arguments against it, mostly having to do with Apple's carefully crafted image of the Mac as an aspirational brand and Wal-Mart's success as the purveyor of discount commodities. Apple cedes some control over marketing when it puts products in the hands of the world's largest retailer, and then there's the issue of price: Apple might have to be more flexible on the price of the Mac, something it's been almost entirely unwilling to do (though there have been recent rumors that price cuts are in the offing). But even with the economy the way it is, and Mac sales slumping, both are going to come back eventually.
So while adding the store-within-a-store setup inside Wal-Mart is a good move for the iPod/iPhone sales, overall it seems unlikely that these displays will include Macs in the near term.
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur. E-mail Erica. 
Now Wal-Mart is trying it again with Wal-Mart this time. But Apple prohibits Apple dealers from underselling the Apple web site prices. So Wal-Mart cannot undercut Apple's prices, but they might throw in a printer or something else to make a bundle and then discount the bundle. Maybe buy an iMac and get a free iPod or something.
If apple enters walmart, it will be on a VERY tightly controlled basis. most likely they will operate as a pay per scan vendor (the way coke and pepsi sell their products is to ship the merchandise to the store, then when the item is sold, the vendor pays for the store for the shelf space). Walmarts around the country have have HUGE shrink with their ipod merchandise, apple doesnt want a gray market of their flagship computer.
What they detest is paying a little more for high quality.
"I give a linux computer better odds of selling at walmart. "
Walmart has tried twice to sell Linux based PC's and had to pull them from the shelves both times due to lack of sale and a high return rate of those that were sold. It was hard for Walmart to propely identify that the linux computers sold there could not run the software that the store had on the shelves. Yes, you could run them in emulation, but you had to be a geek to know that and that's not what Walmart customers are expected to be. :/
wow self absorbed much? AND
more like if apple goes down this road there will be price cuts .. Wal-Mart has that type of muscle! .... but hey thats great for consumers ... would be bad for Microsoft .... if it happens!
No way will Apple allow Wal Mart to sell Macs.
There is no doubt that some people have switched cell provider because of the iPhone but do you really think every cell phone user is going to do that? Do you actually think Verizon, Sprint, etc will just stand still and do nothing while their customers migrate? In fact that best selling phone from last quarter wasn't even the iPod, it was the BlackBerry Storm on Verizon, which was their response to the iPhone. 25%?... Please, you're just wishing.
What they MAY do is allow Macintoshes to be sold on walmart.com. That avoids the problems of properly displaying the computers and training staff to demonstrate them.
I despise WallyMart and the further Apple stays away from there, the better.
apple will NEVER let their product in the same shopping cart as diapers and condoms.
Won't happen.
It's a waste even in a Best Buy...
Tell me, was Windows 7 designed specifically with Apple hardware in mind? Was it designed to be beautiful? Was it designed to make the user happy every time the machine is booted up?
I know, these things can be disputed but OS X was designed with them in mind.
Now, as for calling Windows 7 the "best OS ever", if you really believe that, why are you commenting on an article with Apple in the name instead of Windows?
Wal-mart is definitely going after Best Buy. I have seen an updated Wal-mart store with dedicated areas for cell phones and computers and televisions. Best Buy is in trouble, Wal-mart is serious about upgrading its image and what I have seen so far, Wal-mart will be superior in design and implementation. The upgraded areas are light wood grained, brightly lit with glass inspired trim. They are open areas with lots of room and prominently displayed. I have been at a newly opened Best Buy and their stores are dark and uninviting. The new Wal-mart areas are designed with Apple in mind. Bright and futuristic looking. I think anyone visiting one of these new areas will be impressed and will have second thoughts of visiting Best Buy anytime soon.
If customers need a more detailed explanation of the products than a Wal-Mart rep can give them, then they can go to Apple's website or to an Apple store. Who knows? Maybe Apple would even produce a special video that Wal-Mart shoppers could watch, to get a better understanding of the products.
Best Buy > Wal-Mart, by a huge margin.
I'd love to hear the actual argument that they can't increase their market share in any significant way (rather than it being in there as just an assumption). Perhaps in a future article?
Yeah, I don't think there's is any research that correlates ***** size to vehicle preference. So that is just speculation. I would be inclined to agree with him though... I mean, someone is buying Hummers.
Tell that to Levi.
Macs are built in China.
Although Quanta (and Foxconn, etc.) are Taiwanese companies, most of THEIR factories are in mainland China, not in Taiwan. Quanta in particular has its two largest factories in Shanghai and Changshu. They've been manufacturing out of mainland China for almost 10 years now.
You can tell where a Mac was manufactured by looking at the first couple digits of the serial number. If it begins with W8, YM or 4H then it's made in mainland China (e.g., W8 == Shanghai factory.) Quanta Taiwan manufactured ones start with QT.
BMWs and Audis are made their too
it depends on the brand and customer surveys for years
have shown that Macs are top dog !
At the BMW China's Shenyang factory, most of the Chinese parts are simply not up to quality standards, that the vast majority of parts for the 3- and 5- series have to be imported. So the BMW China factory is more or less simply an assembly plant for foreign-manufactured parts.
Even then, the quality of the cars produced by BMW China isn't the same as the German-made cars. Hence all cars made by BMW China are only to be sold to the local, less-discriminating market.
Someday I'm sure the quality of Chinese components will be acceptable for the luxury segment, but we're a long, long(!) away from that point.
About the only German car manufacturer which produces cars using high local content is Volkswagen. But then they produce a lot of crappy cars anyway.
Unlike the car manufacturers, Apple doesn't even have their own factory in China, but rely on contracts with the cheapest third-parties like Foxconn. Some of their plants are literally just one step above sweat-shop conditions.
There are like 5 companies making just about all the computers in the world. I recently read Quanta is now making about one third of all notebook computers worldwide.
I personally would like to see these machines made in the USA or Europe, but South-east Asia, specifically China, has cornered the market with their cheap labour. Do you know of any manufacturer making computers in the US? I mean actually making them here, not just assembling a few Chinese made parts. I'd seriously like to know.
- by AaronKempf May 19, 2009 11:39 PM PDT
- wow.. uh.. isn't the mac literally irrelevent? They've had an awful year in market share.. I'm glad that MS finally is winning the marketing war.. It's nice. Windows kicks butt!
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- by kcotham May 21, 2009 4:55 AM PDT
- No, not irrelevant at all. Apple is the only reason Microsoft isn't still making something that looks like DOS or Windows 3.
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (65 Comments)I mean, AT&T just agreed to sell three different brands of netbooks, I thought that Windows XP on a netbook won the whole iPhone / Mac war ROFL
So now _WHY_ would WalMart want to sell a product that has declined in sales by 20% each month for the past 6 months?
And whatever happened to MS agreeing to open retail stores, I can't wait for that!!