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Apple gadget is coming to stores Sunday; 8-gigabyte version will cost $197
By Chris Burritt
Bloomberg News
Published on Saturday, Dec 27, 2008
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said it will start selling Apple Inc.'s iPhone on Sunday to bolster its offering of consumer electronics.
An 8-gigabyte version of the Web-surfing iPhone 3G model with a two-year AT&T Inc. service contract will cost $197, and a 16-gigabyte version will go for $297, Wal-Mart said Friday in a statement. Speculation spurred Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics retailer, to cut its iPhone prices by $10 for the rest of the year.
Selling the iPhone will draw more customers and burnish Wal-Mart's reputation as a consumer-electronics destination, analysts said. The company's 3,500 U.S. supercenters and discount stores have improved displays and given more space to Sony Corp. flat-panel televisions, Dell Inc. laptop computers and other electronics in the past year to spur sales.
''It's impressive that a manufacturer with the cachet of Apple chooses Wal-Mart as Please see Wal-Mart, D7
Continued from Page D1
the next place to go after Best Buy,'' Joseph Feldman, an analyst at Telsey Advisory Group in New York, said. ''The Wal-Mart customer represents America and wants the latest gadgets. It will help the iPhone go mainstream.''
Wal-Mart said its stores will match the advertised iPhone prices of competitors in local markets.
Entertainment items including electronics and toys generated 14 percent of Wal-Mart's revenue in the 12 months through Jan. 31, 2008, the same percentage as a year earlier, according to the retailer's annual securities filing.
Wal-Mart has increased its offering of brand-name consumer electronics as part of its focus on products consumers want the most, Chief Financial Officer Thomas Schoewe said Nov. 13.
Electronics including a Toshiba Corp. laptop computer, a Microsoft Corp. Xbox game player and Apple's iPod filled the first three pages of Wal-Mart's sales flier for the week through Dec. 24.
The iPhone became the most popular mobile phone among U.S. consumers last quarter, research firm NPD Group said last month. NPD's numbers exclude purchases by companies.
Apple introduced the first iPhone in June 2007 and released an updated version in July 2008 that runs on a faster network.
Best Buy started selling the iPhone in September, becoming its first U.S. retailer other than Apple and AT&T, the brand's sole wireless provider.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said it will start selling Apple Inc.'s iPhone on Sunday to bolster its offering of consumer electronics.
Get the full article here.
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