Reports: Wal-Mart To Sell iPhone Starting Dec. 28

9:34 am, November 19th, 2008, Ed Sutherland

New reports suggest discount retail giant Wal-Mart will begin selling the iPhone Dec. 28, a move raising some eyebrows while also expanding Apple’s retail strategy, according to other experts.

An AT&T memo obtained by the Boy Genius Report outlined plans to offer the iPhone first in select Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations, followed by nationwide availability to more than 3,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.

“We are pleased to announce that Wal-Mart has reached agreement with Apple to offer iPhone 3G in Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart managed Sam’s Club Connection Centers nationwide beginning December 28, 2008,” according to the memo.

In November, Boy Genius wrote that Wal-Mart would start offering the iPhone on November 15, prior to the traditional Black Monday period that kicks off holiday sales.

Backing up the memo was a Wednesday e-mail from Jamie Townsend, a JRPG Research analyst. Townsend told clients he expects the iPhone will appear at Wal-Marts before the end of the year.

Townsend predicted the iPhone would require the same two-year AT&T contract and be priced at or below Apple handsets sold by AT&T or Cupertino.

The post-Christmas timing of the iPhone’s unveiling at Wal-Mart gave one analyst reason to pause.

“Retail orthodoxy states that to get the most of the holiday sales season, products need to be in stores by Black Friday at the latest,” Avi Greengart, Current Analysis analyst, told Cult of Mac.

The JRPG analyst offered the economy as one reason for the timing.

Townsend believes the move comes as AT&T looks to bolster mobile subscribers as consumers curtail expenses. Apple could also use Wal-Mart to discount the iPhone as handset makers rush to attract buyers during a period when handset demand is expected to fall.

Strategically, adding the discount chain to the list of retailers offering the iPhone could boost the handset’s profile among price-sensitive shoppers.

Adding Wal-Mart shows “that the iPhone is not a premium/elite product out of reach to the masses: there is nothing more mainstream than a product available at Wal-Mart,” Greengart told Cult of Mac.

If the report is confirmed, Wal-Mart would join Apple’s ever-growing list of retailers selling the iPhone. Earlier this year, electronics giant Best Buy began offering the handset.

However, Greengart believes Wal-Mart’s massive reach would overshadow Best Buy’s 950 stores.

Posted by Ed Sutherland in Apple, News, iPhone | Comment on this article

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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