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.

[willcasp]

This may be a bad move for Apple. Apple, like it or not, caters to an up scale market. Selling this device at Wallmart could very well remove the appeal to many members of their traditional market.

[stanley0301]

The only thing keeping an iphone out of my pocket is the contract--I am watching closely for what will happen when the original iphone two year deal runs out this summer and floods the market with used, but pretty good phones--totally unattached to anything. I would MUCH rather have last years phone and no ring through my nose than this years model and a hefty phone bill.

[jameskatt]

Availability at Wal-Mart puts Apple at an extreme advantage to any other competitor.

Despite the negatives such as "second tier" about Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart simply sells a lot of product. And, many of the products it sells are top-tier.

For example, Wal-Mart sells more toys than any toystore.

Wal-Mart accounts for 30% of Proctor and Gamble's sales.

Wal-Mart sells a lot of DVDs and Music CDs.

Wal-Mart sells a lot of iPods and related gadgets.

Wal-Mart sells a lot of groceries.

These aren't second-tier products.

Apple isn't a monopoly. There are tons of competitors - RIM, Symbian, Nokia, Linux, Palm, Windows Mobile, Sony, Android, etc. etc. etc.

Calling Apple a monopoly is like calling BMW a monopoly, or Mercedes Benz a monopoly, or General Motors a monopoly or Ford a monopoly. They are obviously not monopolies.

Wal-Mart gives Apple a huge edge in competing against its smart-phone competitors.

[Perry_Clease]

Excellent points.

[KPHFan]

Except that Walmart ALSO sells some of the competition as well. This article is wrong...plain and simple.

[Seaspray0]

It depends on the market you look at, jameskatt. If apple controls over 50% of a market, they they are a monopoly. Apple controls over 50% marketshare in mp3 player sales, so by definition, they ARE a monopoly.

[amerifat]

when walmart started selling dell, people thought the same, game over, dell on top. while this is not the same situation, it's pretty similar. the author perhaps never shopped at walmart. i just can see the typical walmart shopper going gaga over the iphone. so, no, wmt is not key to iph domination, sorry.

[amerifat]

i meant "i just can't see the typical...". not "can..."

[Quincy2001]

There's one reason BlackBerry will stick in the smartphone market: a real keyboard. The iPhone is great for a lot of things, but typing simply isn't one of them. The fact is that it's impossible to type with the same speed and accuracy on an iPhone screen than it is on a BlackBerry keyboard. (Insert pause for Apple Fanboy to tell me why a touchscreen is so much better for fast typing than a keyboard.)

Don's article is based on the common, but wrong, idea that everyone wants the same thing out of a particular gadget. Some people want a phone that plays media, others want a phone that plays games, still others want a phone that does a superb job with e-mail. The iPhone has the first two categories locked up, but because it's got no keys, it can't do the third. That said, my prediction is that the BlackBerry Storm is going to be a flop because it gives up the BlackBerry's key competitive advantage over the iPhone.

[Perry_Clease]

"(Insert pause for Apple Fanboy to tell me why a touchscreen is so much better for fast typing than a keyboard.)"

I won't tell you why because you told yourself.

"Don's article is based on the common, but wrong, idea that everyone wants the same thing out of a particular gadget."

[eltoro2827]

there is way too much hype behind this phone.

[The_Decider]

Exactly, it is under featured and overpriced.

[3bgl]

Does this author get paid to write such bs?
Cell phones have been sold in retail stores since ever, they used to be car phones, they were sold in the auto-radio/casette/cd player section of CircuitCity, Sears...
Hey boy, grow up! Apple is pushing a very agressive "grag new customers" agenda with its pretty gadgets and Apple Stores but it's failing to keep happy those loyal customers who once (not too long ago) saved the company from bankruptcy... You read posts on Macrummors, Apple Insider, etc. you'll find how Mac customers feel neglected by Apple. But you probably won't understand why, shiny greasy boy...
The fact is that iPhones in Wal-Mart may bring a new sort of consumers to the Apple base, but it's doubtable that Wal-Mart alone can cause such a change in smartphone market, since Blackberries are sold by EVERY OTHER large electronic retailer. It'll certainly bring more people to know what smartphones are. Which is good for all makers of Blackberries, Palms, Androids and Symbians.

How can an article as cheap as the one above (and others from the same author) be so highlighted?! What a cheap tabloid has cnet become!

[3bgl]

I mean: "grab new customers"

[davidmcelroy_dotmac]

The next time you do something about Walmart, please note that the company's logo has changed. In addition, the correct way to write the name has changed. It used to be Wal-Mart. After the recent change, it's Walmart. Here's the new logo, as of this past summer. You'll slowly start seeing it replace the outdated on that you used on this page.

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/less_hyphen_more_burst_for_wal.php

And here's the company web site using the new name and logo:

http://www.walmart.com/

[i-phony]

The Iphone was a fun phone.Its a shame that I had "no service" in my home of all places.I live in N.Y.C. and have been told that service is actually better outside of the biggest city in this country.I sold and went back to Verizon.Im following whats happening with the Storm because it seems nice but it has its problems .As far as Wal-Mart is concerned the unions here have kept them out of N.Y.C.I know people who make a nice living who drive over to Jersey to shop there.It seems some like push to an image of Wal-Mart shoppers as a poor lot but I think thats a fallacy.Its a smart move business-wise.

[drpr]

"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." This phrase makes absolutely no sense to me. Is it a typo? We have long been able to buy cell phones outside of carrier stores - way before the iPhone ever existed.

[actualtiger]

I don't think we have Walmart in Australia. But as in the US we've been able to buy mobile phones from heaps of outlets for decades, department stores, hole in the wall specialty shops, appliance retailers, variety stores etc etc. The one phone I can't buy from these outlets is an iPhone, I have to buy from an Apple Shoppe, and I have to use the monopolistic carrier Telstra.

Why is Apple allowed to conduct itself in an anti-competitive manner - carrier & retailer lock-in on i-phones, download lock-in on i-pods etc. Where are the DoJ, the EU and our own ACCC, probably all gone to lunch with the bankers. Perhaps Obama will have the courage to use US anti-trust laws to force Apple into behaving an a competitive, free enterprise and democratic manner. Apple and Gazprom (the state owned Russian gas monopoly) would make good bedfellows.

The fifth para of this article is nothing but sheer unadulterated drivel, it seems that the rule stating "posting of advertisements ... is prohibited", doesn't apply to cNet !!!

[helroth]

Maybe it's because nobody else would sell the iPhone except ATT. Verizon turned it down (mostly because Apple wouldn't let them cripple it, as Verizon does with its other phones).

By the way, try to get a Blackberry Storm from anyone but Verizon - I don't think you can.

What is so anti-competitive about Apple and the iPhone? Any other company can make any phone they want to compete with the iPhone, and they can sell it anywhere they want - Apple's not holding anybody back.

[geofbrewer]

I spent a very short time in Australia. I don't like cordials. I love iced coffee. I shopped at a K-Mart. Learned to play "Crowns and Anchors". I hope Walmart stays out of Australia. I'd really like to go back.

[bob1xxxx]

Yawn, really apple ruling the world with their over price products in a recession what a load of feces. Walmart is using ipoo oops Iphone as a ploy to make themselves look less getto fabulious by selling a high end cell phone like the ipoo. Honestly I dont see walmart sell very many because apple still holds the activation process hostage and there no basic just talk only plans and all activations require a 2 year contract and a credit check, IMPOSSIBLE for more than 2/3 of walmart core shopping group. It a chessy marketing ploy on Walmart's part not much else. And unless apple starts offering cheeper Iphone with more open activation and cheaper contracts I see the Iphone sale hitting negetive growth in the first quater of this year .
Again this another apple ad dollar $$$$ shill story on C shill.net I though CBS buying C shill oops Cnet was going to trash cnet but not this fast.

[Perry_Clease]

Groan!

[Seaspray0]

Bob1xxxx. The easiest way to spot a shill is when they don't use the proper name for a company or product. If you can't show atleast that amount of respect, you don't deserve any. The proper name is iphone. Take your slander and garbage elsewhere.

[bob1xxxx]

Uh seaspray0 the easiest way to spot a thin skinned humorless apple Nazi fan boy is to watch there excessive over reaction to any slightly humorous joke of crapple ooops apple and their fearless leader Steve "the hand" Jobs. LOL. Its' so easy to have you humorless apple Nazis cook off LOL . Please grow up, if you understood my post I'm clowning the fool who wrote this inane blog post. But apple and it bs mythology is so easy to merciless clown I could help myself LOL.

[nfrengle]

The significance of the iPhone being sold at Wal*Mart is somewhat overstated: Cell phones, as many of the comments have already pointed out, have been sold in Wal*Mart as well as other big box stores, electronics stores, and so on, including even supermarkets, for awhile now.
The irony of the iPhone vs. the iPhone marketing hype is that it IS a game-changer, but to truly change the game Apple would have to let go of a portion of the pie that it is quite happily eating: Carrier subsidies. The iPhone has the ability, because of a good interface, music, movies, and games that just work, and work properly, and the fact that it is, at heart, an iPod, one of the most successful consumer product of the last decade, to stand on it's own, without the need for carrier subsidies. If Apple just sold them unlocked to whoever wanted to buy them, people would in all likelihood buy them at full price. However, what apple has done instead is to go to carriers and say "you won't have to subsidise this very much, and it will bring new customers in. All you have to do is give us what you would have subsidised it for, or an equivalent in usage charges, and it is yours." This is the same 'ol, same 'ol, but Apple saw a way to make a buck, and that was it. Fair enough, and a nice indicator that Apple, despite their carefully groomed rebel image, are really about making money.
However, getting people to buy a phone at full price was within their grasp, and would have actually greatly strengthened their hand: Anyone, on any network (that supports GSM or UMTS) could buy one without worrying about a new contract. Carriers would be over the moon, as handset subsidies are now one the biggest costs, and would likely fall all over themselves to support their customers who were buying their own phone. Long-term, that is game changing.
Instead, Apple is playing the same as every other carrier: Selling a phone for a mere $3 less at Wal*Mart, which still requires a contract, is locked to a network. The only thing they are changing is the way they are able to profit while most handset makers, because of their own poor interfaces, buggy software, and the way they are beholden to mobile carriers, are in dire straits. Sony-Ericcson may split up, Siemens is gone, Motorola is in big trouble, and most are hurting. RIM is hurting less than some, and actually also has a different business model to most, since it sells it's e-mail services as part of it's hardware offering.
The thing I find interesting is that in MP3 players still no one touches the iPod, both in terms of sales, but also in terms of the overall experience. They have had years, and yet...
If the same plays out in the mobile phone market, that would be a game-changer. But Apple seems unwilling to do what it did in the MP3 market, which is to create a marketplace (iTunes store) in order to sell it's hardware. They don't make a significant amount of money selling songs, but they do make a very significant amount selling iPods.
Back to the mobile phone world, Apple has been greedy, trying to profit beyond hardware sales. Will they likely come out ahead? Maybe. But even if they do, they will be at the top of a heap of sh*t, a seriously flawed market, that they had the chance to change and didn't.

[geofbrewer]

Good points. Most customers are ignorant of the subsidies. A large part of the sales force are ignorant of them as well. It would be interesting to see the books of the companies involved and privy to the negotiations of the various partners in these deals.

[mikemckeown]

I disagree with the article that the move into Walmart is going to allow Apple to dominate. The iphone has been available now from BestBuy, AT&T stores, and on-line. If anyone wanted it by now, they could have easily have gotten it.

Problem with the iphone as I see it is the network it is on. Everyone I know who has the phone complains about the AT&T network.

[Chuckii Booker]

Apple really didn't need this move because they are dominating with the iPhone. This move pretty much puts the nail in the coffin for other smart phones. Nothing is as fluid as the iPhone in my opinion. Go Apple ( ps: I would like to see an MMS and copy paste feature though)

[terminalblue]

most walmart customers have bad credit. that means that cant get the iphone

[HeavyJim]

I like the way people disparage or put down people who shop at walmart and hate walmart in general, mostly because they feel walmart sells china/*** made junk. Does walmart selling iphones prove this right, more junk?

[Seaspray0]

No, it doesn't prove anything. But, walmart is well know for selling made in china junk along with bargain basement/low quality merchandise. They do not have a reputation for attracting the fashion trend setters. BTW, That would include me since I don't give a Cr@p about fashion or trends and I do buy things at walmart.

[mailbox001]

How come Apple don't sell Macs through Wal-Mart?

[Perry_Clease]

You need to ask Apple Inc.

[helroth]

Because you need competent sales people to sell computers. Apple found that out when they tried selling through Circuit City a few years ago - the sales people knew nothing about Macs, and were telling everyone that Macs weren't good. They didn't even have the Macs on the shelf set up right, and couldn't anser the simplest questions about them.

CompUSA was a little better, but still not great. The jury's still out on Best Buy - they appear to be trying harder, with some actual Mac training for the sales staff.

[Perry_Clease]

"The jury's still out on Best Buy"

There is a Best Buy up the street from my me. I stop in there when I am out walking and have made friends with their "Apple Guy." He seems quite Apple knowledgeable, and wants to make the Mac section there a success. I can not comment much on the other staff, they seem friendly enough, but they don't hang around the Macs much.

[lemieuxd]

I don't see many people buying computers of any make from Walmart in these parts...

[KPHFan]

lemieux...that settles it! Your anecdotal evidence is enough for me. NO ONE buys computers at Walmart! They are idiots for carrying them!

[SpiritWater]

I don't normally buy electronics at Wal-Mart but I can see their importance to Apple.

What is more important is that AT&T lower their monthly rates and Apple either lower their device price and/or come-out with a lower-end product.

We still have a couple of years before Apple can sell to other cell providers other than AT&T. When that happens Apple's US reach will double.

Break the wedge!
www.breakthewedge.com

[runswithscissorsXX]

first wired became a public-relations arm of apple, now news.com, too?
read enough stories about apple from the two sites, and you realize there are certain people who courageously defend apple a number of times. i'm quite certain these are employees paid by apple to attack anyone who says anything negative about apple. and i'm quite certain this author (among many others) has received a free gift from apple in the not-too-distant past.

as for the story itself - retarded. very confused. 90% of iphone owners are affluent snobs, typically already owning at least one other (over-priced) apple product. 90% of wal-mart shoppers are low-class. even if the price tag for the phone itself is $3 cheaper, the majority of wal-mart shoppers simply *cannot afford* the associated fees. wal-mart shoppers sign up for family plans, bulk packages, the cheapest rates they can find, and pay-as-you-go plans. they will not (and cannot) pay $60+ per month for a single phone for a single user.

even if this strategy somehow succeeds (a very big if), the iphone will still fail in the long run because apple is following the same strategy they followed with computers in the early '80s, and open-source/open-platforms will kick their ***** yet again. if they open the sdk to windows/linux users (you know, those people serious about coding?), and if they stop filtering apps, the iphone will dominate. now there are three tremendously huge ifs involved.

wal-mart iphone = apple lisa computer