Comments on: Why Wal-Mart is key to iPhone domination

Move will make Apple's popular mobile phone available to millions of more customers and ensure that RIM and every other company trying desperately to compete with Apple simply can't.

[DeeperData314]

"Remember years ago when you could only find a cell phone at your carrier's store? Those days are gone, even though Apple is the only company that realizes that. In just two short years, the iPhone has become the single device that can be found beyond the auspices of the carrier's building."
Cell phones have been available at non-carrier stores for years. What kind of research did you do???

[bonesbautista]

Um, the blogger wrote "Remember years ago...". It's a blog, using a metaphor, a figure of speech. Yikes! Lighten up.

[skillingssucks]

what do the words "Remember years ago...", mean to you? Go away.

[Edited to remove personal attack.]

[KPHFan]

To the illiterate people who defended the silly statement in the article....He also goes on to suggest that only Apple understands the value in selling their phones at retailers. This is 100% false, and ridiculous for the reasons that DeeperData said. Apple is once again playing catch up, NOT leading the way.

[Mark_Anderson]

Tesco, ASDA (Walmart in the UK) and all the other big supermarket chains in the UK - and, indeed in Europe - have been selling phones on PAYG and contract for years.

It's nice that the US is playing catch up in the mobile phone market again but I'm not sure how you think this will enable the iPhone to dominate in the non-US markest where sales have been healthy but no better than, say, the N95 had in 2007.

[Aeoran]

Apple will dominate through Wal-Mart just like the Yankees are winning world championships with A-Rod on board.

[lightningrob]

Ah, c'mon, A-Rod's not that bad, why are you comparing him to Walmart?

[fltnsplr]

That's right! Overrate and overpay somebody, and they'll really come through for ya! Remember the arm chop on Boston's first baseman when everything started to fall apart in the 2004 World Series? A-Blob is a chump, not a champ!

[RDL78]

This article seems like it was written for a sub -average consumer group and made up out of thin air. (It is well written so I'll give you that). I've been able to go into many big box retailer. including wal-mart, and buy a blackberry for years. Best-Buy has almost as many phones as a carrier. I'm really disseminated about the culture of misinformation that is being perpetuated.

[dcapi]

I agree with most of the comments. Wal-Mart is just another retailer, and a DISCOUNT retailer at that. Apple's iPhone is a premium high-tech gadget, and if people refuse to pay $3 for a loaf of bread, are they really going to pay $200 for a phone and then $1,200 for a contract? All right, some will, but they're mostly people who would've bought it anyway online or through a Best Buy anyway.

[skillingssucks]

"Disseminated", "sub-average"?

[Edited to remove personal attack.]

[tundraboy]

"Disseminated"?

[maniac42]

When I think of a place to buy electronics, Wal-Mart doesn't come to mind at all. They're well known for peddling second-tier goods. Even things that LOOK like the items sold at high-end stores are often cheapened versions, specially made for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is famous for squeezing suppliers on price. The suppliers, not wishing to go out of business for lack of profitability, find ways of cheapening their goods and taking the ruggedness and quality out of them.

[Xtoo]

Accept it or not, there will be lots of Walmart loyals that WILL buy the phone just for being on the Walmart shelf. Remember that many of these people don't think twice about the iPhone or any gadgets in general, but if Walmart carries it the "price should be good".
Besides, do all of you really think Apple doesn't have a stripped down version of the iPhone just for Walmart? Come on!

[XiroMisho]

...I haven't bought a Cell phone at a Cell Phone carrier in the past two years... I got my Motorola Razor Vexx from Best Buy, along with my 2 year contract.

I can honestly say I will never own an iPhone until it's on a decent network... Why they chose AT&T for their American Carrier I will never truly understand. I was surprised enough to see Apple tip-toeing into the cell phone market in the first place by making a demo version (iPhone version 1 still has no legitimate reason to have not supported 3G... this was Apple testing the market). Then see them go to a network which just STARTED 3G adoption... even Sprint would have been better! Verizon should have been the obvious choice, but maybe Apple felt that Verion was "The Man" and Cingular represented more of the garbage image they're trying to make their company look like...

The Wal*Mart thing I get... Wal*Mart has been a Cingular retailer for a while, it was only a matter of time before they carried the iPhone, the carried the iPods and the iPod Touch for a while now so there's no reason they wouldn't carry the iPhone. I wasn't surprised when Best Buy carried it too... infact it's more surprising it took this long.

Only Apple has the know how to make these things seem like big deals - I'll give them that. They know how to market, by making exclusivity seem like reality.

Apple: "Well.. normally you'd need to go to an Apple store... but for you of the unwashed... we shall allow you to go to your 'Wal*Mart' and purchase our product."
Fans: "AMAZING!!"
Apple: "I know, our grace knows no bounds, now away with you!"

[drali154]

I will totally agree with you, i dont understand the fact that iphone has come down to a standard of going to walmart to capture another market share and to at&t for their services. it seems like a cheap move to me. I had at&t service for a while a while back and I hated it. i have been waiting for iphone to either come to a different service provideror to buy a different smart phone.

[CDubber]

"Why they chose AT&T for their American Carrier I will never truly understand." - XiroMisho

Um, because T-Mobile is too small and because Verizon rejected Apple's initial iPhone offer? Yes, Verizon had first shot at the iPhone. They turned it down. So it's Verizon's obsession with gimping their own cell devices that led to the iPhone at AT&T. Stop blaming Apple for the AT&T exclusivity. Blame Verizon.

[toocoolracing]

Yeah just wanted to reiterate what somebody else said. Apple's first tried to partner with Verizon but Verizon turned them down. Cingular said, "We'll do it." Cingular was bought by AT&T and here we are.

The AT&T service has been the weak link, but in my experience in recent months it has gotten much better for whatever reason. Verizon would have been my first choice as well but at the moment the AT&T service is only a notch below Verizon to me. Not way out of the ballpark. The carrier I hate due to bad experiences is Sprint and I'm so thankful Apple didn't end up there.

[1badcowboy]

What will happen is when the next version of the iphone comes out, Wal Mart will continue to sell the this version, only at $100 off. This way they get their inexpensive phone, Apple gets two markets with the masses buying the Wal Mart phone and the new adopters/loyalists (I hate the term fan boys) buying the newest high end. In any case, it gets more people into the Apple state of mind.

[drhamad]

I doubt it. Apple doesn't historically continue producing old products when new ones come out (with limited exceptions like the current low-end MacBook... but that isn't just for one partner).

[sjmanikt]

I think the $2 price difference is a telling detail in all this. $2 is hardly a compelling bargain to motivate most people to brave Wal-Mart. Doesn't that seem like a last-minute sop to prevent some Wal-Mart execs from torpedoing the entire deal?

[Zeeshan47]

Have you been to a Wal Mart recently? Everything's marked down either 2 cents for cheaper items or 2 dollars for items over 100. You want that television there on the stand? Guess what? It's even less than 499! It's 497 bucks!

[DaBeez]

Please. . . . enough. I am an Apple fan, but I find this guy's stream of consciousness hyperbole to be more than a little irritating. How does having an intimate relationship with a Flowbee make someone a marketing specialist? This hack continually talks out of his ---. Cnet, I am begging you to get us a real journalist that can write without the overuse of superlatives, will actually research their topics, who won't propose conjecture as prediction or even worse confuse it as certainty, and write without using a voice reminiscent those in a High School newspaper. Again, where did you find this guy?

[maniac42]

Yeah, that's right. Especially when we know that the Flowbee is a pale imitation of the RoboCut.

[khqbert]

I'm pretty disappointed at the damaging ignorance on display here.

Walmart already carries phones from SEVERAL other carriers.

Apple is well BEHIND the curve here.

"In just two short years, the iPhone has become the single device that can be found beyond the auspices of the carrier's building."

This reads like a satire of Apple fanboyism. Very, very disappointing from CNET, which we should be able to trust to be reasonably well informed about the marketplace for electronics.

[captainzap66]

Walmart sucks, they treat their employees bad with sub-standard wages and no health insurance who would support a company like that. Bad move Apple

[OS11]

give it up, Wal-Mart employees get health insurance like any other discount retail firm, their wages are the same or higher as any other discount chain, you hate Wal-Mart because the are successful, nothing more.

[eyedemon]

Nah, I hate Wal-Mart because of the lines. I know they have a buisness to run, however when you have 32 lanes and only 4-5 open at any one time with 8-10 people in each line there is a problem. I am not saying have people standing around but they should be able to calculate better the number of employees needed at any one time of the day. I am to the point I would rather spend more for better customer service and less wait time then to save a few dollars and have to wait 15-20 minutes just to get the to the register.

[The_Decider]

The lines are a minor problem compared to the damage walfart causes

[KPHFan]

The_DEcider...what damage is that exactly? And don't talk about how they put mom and pop stores out of business. Please, show me ONE city that was thriving, and had a thriving Main St. USA with mom and pop stores, that then saw large numbers of closing after Walmart moved in. Don't bother doing any research, because there are none. The fact of hte matter is, mom and pop stores that go out of business when Walmart moves in were on life support anyway. Most were losing money for hteir owners for years. These owners would be bettter off taking a management position at the Walmart (their experience should give them an advnatage) and getting better and cheaper health insurance than they got for themselves.

Similarly, show me one city that successfully lobbied to keep Walmart out that then experienced a revitalization. Again, don't bother with research. You won't find a single city to fit that description.

As for salaries and benefits...Walmart pays more and offers more benefits than any otehr retail store. And a LOT more than mom and pop stores (usually employeeing relatives for minimumwage, with ZERO benefits and no health insurance at all) IS everyone making a "living wage" at Walmart? Nope. Then again, no one ever guaranteed people that they can raise a large family when all they can offer employers is "monkey work" of unskilled labor. If you ant to live well, you need to better yourself and offer companies that other people can't. That will help you get paid more. The fact of the matter is, trained monkeys LITERALLY can stock shelves. They don't deserve $15 an hour.

[kaibelf]

Be serious. I love how people talk about how terrible corporate America is for everyone, blah blah blah *whine.*

My question is, what have YOU done to keep those little, overpriced, dirty, inconvenient stores in business? I personally can't stand going to places where they have 1/10th the options available to me, then talk about how a better-run business is making their life harder.

And I couldn't agree more about the wages. Wal-Mart isn't advanced medicine or theoretical physics. It's walking around, pointing at aisles, and punching buttons to process cards at a cashier. Maybe mopping a floor once in a while. How much money do people honestly think they are entitled to earn when people who try MUCH harder to learn and contribute to the world make less in many cases. (Ever tried working at a not-for-profit, people?)

Big banks, big business, and execs are not to blame. It's the simple fact that people don't want to go 50 places to get things they could get at 1, and nothing's going to change that. Boo hoo.

[cgzcci]

Maybe, maybe not. It's far from clear that Apple's luxury phone is a good match to Walmart's customers. Of course, maybe they simply won't figure out how expensive the phone is until it's too late.

The iPhone isn't the only phone that Walmart sells, and if Walmart picks other phones carefully (e.g., the Nokia 5310 or 5800), the iPhone may mainly serve to get people in the door and sell them on some other product.

[geofbrewer]

Walmart doesn't pick the phones. It's a process of negotiation with the carrier and their supplier over price. Oh, and there are a couple of other things involved, but why spoil the party?

[Penguinisto]

Don,

Wal-Mart carries numerous smart phones, including Blackberries:
http://walmart.letstalk.com/product/browse.htm?pgId=100&tNav=1&corpId=654&search=blackberry

So, err, the entire premise of your article kinda collapses, yanno?

Now that said, Apple does stand a solid chance of gaining massive traction in Wal-Mart, but not to the exclusion of everyone esle.

[lightningrob]

Hee hee. You'd think that before a C'Net "journalist" wrote a phrase like "its decision to ignore devices from every Apple competitor", he might actually check his premise, so that a horde of commenters wouldn't point out his gross ignorance. Or maybe he just likes being pissed on.

[sanjayb]

Yeah Don. Did u even bother visiting your local Wal*Mart store before writing this blog??

[rmva]

Don has done it again! Another one of his crackpot essays.

[Shawn7676]

The Iphone looks way better than the Storm. Apple engineers are not just engineers, they are artists.

[KPHFan]

Apple owners are not just owners..they are fanboys.

[Seaspray0]

Walmart shoppers aren't just artistic, fashion conscientious trendsetters, they're bubba's.

[Shawn7676]

The Iphone looks way better than the Storm. Apple engineers are not just engineers, they are artists.

[runswithscissorsXX]

the iphone looks better, yes. but by including buttons, the storm has increased functionality. when the screen is both the visual input and tactile input, it means limited applications. consider games, for instance. think of every single game to ever make an impact, and that game will require massive amounts of button pushing at certain intervals. this simply is not possible on the iphone, which is why all of their games are cute but boring as sin.

but that's an apple fan for you, style over substance.

[helroth]

The only problem is, all those buttons and the sliding keyboards and the not-so-great software make for a worse experience overall. The latest survey of brand new Blackberry Storm owners showed only 33% were very satisfied with the Storm (and they've had a high return rate). Brand new iPhone owners are over 60% very satisfied. Guess what? The "artistic" iPhone just works better - it's much better thought out.

[Devhux]

At least the Storm could reliably make phone calls upon its launch -- something that took Apple quite a few firmware releases to get the iPhone to do. Give it a few more firmware updates, and the Storm may actually have a chance to win over more users.

[thejokker]

havent all electronic stores sold cell phones for years?

[spectator1]

I follow Tech news regarding technology. I have to say I am dissappointed with the mind set of some of the people on the threads. I mean people leaving comments insulting walmart employees,insulting Corporations and more. That alone is very unprofessional and displays lack of respect.


[Edited to remove prohibited advertisement.]

[iphonedied]

SPAM! Delete it CNet!

[iphonedied]

OK, it is time for the Dept of Justice to step in and halt Apple's evil reign of monopolistic terror.
Steve Jobs needs to sit in front of a Congressional panel for five days straight to answer for his evil acts.
WalMart's CEO needs to explain to the Dept of Justice why this is good for trade and good for America. Because it isn't! Boycott all things Apple!

[thejokker]

umm....What?

[helroth]

What are you talking about? What monopoly? Is the iPhone the only smartphone on the market? It has the same market share as Blackberries over the last 6 months (the iPhone is just creeping ahead), not to mention all the others. What evil acts? Making good products that people want to buy?

Government intervention? Hilarious.

[myles taylor]

Right...someone makes a product that a lot of people choose and suddenly they become an monopoly.

[eyedemon]

While I don't care for either company, Their buisness model works. They are the American dream and good for America.

[The_Decider]

Then the "American Dream" is really a nightmare.

[KPHFan]

a monopoly with single didgit market share?

[Seaspray0]

by myles taylor December 27, 2008 5:41 PM PST
Right...someone makes a product that a lot of people choose and suddenly they become an monopoly.

Yes, they do if enough people choose it. That's the definition of a monopoly.

[GandalfoGris]

Uhm... can I still have my Apple cinnamon Cheerios?

[iphonedied]

Just making light of all of the MacHead Microsoft bashers. Funny that you can take THEIR excuses and paste them into why Microsoft should not have had governmental intervention. Government meddling in markets is wrong.

And no, I am not a Windows bigot. I am writing this in Firefox running on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex.