After much to do about really nothing, Apple is ending its stance on only selling the Apple iPhone at the brick and mortar store sites of AT&T Wireless. While you will still be limited to use of the iPhone to AT&T Wireless, starting in January of 2009 you will be able to purchase the iPhone at your local Wal-Mart and soon online at Walmart.com (which can be accessed directly at www.search4cellphonedeals.com. Wal-Mart already carries many cell phones like the ever popular T-Mobile Android G1, but the retailing giant will be the first place besides the AT&T Wireless store to carry the iPhone.
The move represents the need for Apple to move the iPhone units in an economy that is not doing so well. Apple has used similar tactics in the past with big box retailers with some of their other cutting-edge products like the iPod. Once only available through Apple, you can now get an iPod at a myriad of places from Best Buy to Wal-Mart and many other places in between.
The move also shows that the completion is beginning to tighten when it comes to the battle of the touchscreen smartphones. With so many new touchscreen cell phones available now including the T-Mobile Android G1, the Apple iPhone has somewhat lost its glorious luster. If Apple hopes to keep the strangle hold on the market as it has in the past, they are going to either have to continue to work with retailers like Wal-Mart or come up with better phones. The problem is that the economy can already ill-afford to be paying astronomical amounts of money for cell phones when every cell phone carrier already offers a plethora of cell phones for free when a contract is signed. Still there are those who will insist on the latest and greatest in technical gadgetry even if they go broke doing so.
There is no word on how much of a discount if any Wal-Mart will offer when it comes to the iPhone, but that all depends on Apple. Apple will more than likely just use Wal-Mart as a distribution point making it easier for consumers to buy the iPhone. But don’t count out future discounts. When it was announced that the Android G1 was to be carried at Wal-Mart it was also supposed to come with a $30.00 discount. But so far the Android G1 costs the same $179.00 it always has.
But you have to wonder if Apple wanted to move more units of the iPhone, why did they wait until after Christmas to start the distribution through Wal-Mart? Perhaps the staff of Wal-Mart need to have more time to be trained or maybe the Apple is counting on consumers using cash and gift cards received as presents during Christmas to buy the iPhone. Whatever the case may be by not having the iPhone in Wal-Mart for the holiday season certainly should give an advantage to other phones like the Android G1. As more retail stores are sure to follow, for now, Wal-Mart (which can be accessed directly at www.search4cellphonedeals.com) is the first to carry the Apple iPhone besides the AT&T Wireless store. |
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