An Apple deal with Wal-Mart to sell iPhone would “significantly increase the number of people who desire to own an iPhone [or an iPod touch]. Obviously, this is not aimed at expanding Apple’s presence in the business community [not aimed at the Blackberry market], but instead, Joe-6-Pack [or is that Joe the plumber?]. In the unfortunate event that the potential buyer just signed a contract with another cell carrier, they could be cross-sold an iPod Touch – at Wal-Mart,” Bapcha blogs for Seeking Alpha.
“People who were intrigued by the Android platform – which Google tried to promote using ‘amateurish’ videos on GoogTube knowing full well that they were competing with Apple’s slick advertisement campaigns – watched the ‘Android Chronicles’ in despair. They were appalled at the G1-Phone’s clunky feel, that it did not look as cool as the iPhone, and a not so significantly cheaper $179 price tag (albeit with only a one year contract with T-mobile, which has the sparsest network in the USA). These issues make it almost impossible for all – except the most die-hard Android fan – to like the G1-Phone,” Bapcha writes.
“The Apple-WalMart deal will deliver a death blow to the still young G1-Phone/Android platform,” Bapcha writes.
Full article here.
Sorry but I just don’t buy that! Wal-Mart carries lots of other carriers phones, so to say that this move would kill the Android is just too much Mac Fan boy – loving of themselves…..
I think it might be harder to kill android than you think. Google has lots of cash, clout, and will probably be tougher to topple than just the iPhone, in its current form, can handle.
I still don’t look to see Apple heavily entrenched into Wal-Mart. If this happens seems to me it will be when Apple gets desperate. Right now they are selling all the hardware they can make without Wal-Mart.
nah…I was shocked when I asked my non-technical daughter what the hot phone in her High School was…she said the G1…she’s never been wrong on any trend thus far.
Steve Jobs is performing a partial-birth abortion on Google.
Knife the Android baby! Literally.
nah…I was shocked when I asked my non-technical daughter what the hot phone in her High School was…she said the G1…she’s never been wrong on any trend thus far.
——————————————————-
Well she’s wrong on this one. My 15 year old has made it abundantly clear that the iPhone is the hot ticket in his school. He also said a few kids still think Pc’s are cool, but not many. Perhaps one of them is your daughter?
@ jim
Ur an ahole… This is about iPhone /g1 not about insulting ones kids!!! Get it?? Or get out!!!
@ mac 4 long
Talk about an assho1e. Perhaps you might want to consider getting some medical help.
This sound like fantasy to me. Just someone’s opinion. Me thinks he is wrong.
WalMart is where all the low-grade sh*t is sold to the low-income losers. Apple not being in that market is not going to hurt sales at all.
This whole category of devices (phones and netbooks) is going to be confused for a while, but when it all shakes out I would argue that it will be iPhone vs. various Android devices and no one else (WinMobile) will even be in the market anymore.
For a wild guess on share, I would say 80% iPhone OS and 20% Android by 2014 for all phones and netbooks.
@mac 4 long.
I’m sorry that u believe that suggesting someone may be a PC user is an insult, but it wasn’t intended to be.. In fact, the only insult I’ve read is the one u gave to me..
Let’s face it, we all know that the G1 is not “the new thing” or the hot ticket in town.. Just because one man says his daughter says so doesn’t mean anything.. Look around, look at Apple stores, look at high schools, look at sales figures.. The iPhone is kicking down every competitor.
Wow! Everybody sounds wound pretty tight. Apple better think about some news leaks if not full releases of new products, . . . soon!
In the meantime, let’s let Balmer be Balmer. It’s not likely to have any ill effects on Apple whatever he decides. And it might be very interesting to see what Apple uncovers in discovery with their lawsuit with Pystar. If MS is behind them, then Apple can march them right back into court over anti-trust violations. Remember, that judge just gave MS another several years of official scrutiny for the convicted felons.
This is a reporter speculating on some other reporter’s speculation. Apple has given no indication whatsoever that it intends to sell anything at Wal-Mart. Except maybe for iPods, I really doubt it will happen. This rumor is just a bunch of reporters/bloggers feeding off each other.
Only my 2 cents…. Most Walmart customers are value shoppers and it’s great that Apple is letting it be sold there. The phone and all Apple products will be seen as value purchases will help eliminate the notion that Apple products are expensive or elitist. Apple products exceed consumer’s expectations. Surely that’s the message of Apple and Walmart.
Let’s be synonymous here –
Google has a lot of money –
You have a lot of blood –
If you get hit by a truck = death blow
If Walmart carries the iphone = death blow
For Business 101 flunkies:
No matter how much money your company has,
it’s very bad to hemmoraghe money, you’re supposed
to be in business to make money.
eg. “Yeah, Microsoft fails at everything, but they still
have a lot of money” is flawed logic, a misunderstanding
of basic fundamental principles. When you or your family get
laid off by one of these mismanaged companies, tell me
how happy you are that at least your company invested
in a questionable project at your expense.
How many Walmart customers are going to walk out with one when they find out how much the monthly bill will be?
I don’t know about the rest of the country where you can actually BUY an iPhone, but here in South Dakota, Wal-mart already sells iPods, including the iPod touch.
As far as phones go, it sells some pre-paid TracPhones and has a Verizon kiosk in the main aisle by the electronics department. AT&T;has no presence in the Rushmore State, so I doubt they’ll be selling iPhones at the Wal-Marts here.
I hate to point out the obvious here, but Android is the OS, the G1 is just the first phone to use it. There are a LOT of phone makers behind Google and Android and there will be a LOT of Android phones very soon. The G1 is actually a very good first attempt. It’s not an iPhone, but it is far better than the rest of the iClones that are being hawked. Google’s Android will help keep Apple on their toes with the iPhone, and vice versa. There may even be more Android phones than iPhones before too long simply because there will be more manufacturers. The real loser in this race will ultimately be Microsoft. They are light years away from having anything that remotely competes with either platform.
The most interesting thing to come out of all of this is that Android may just be for Linux what iPod/iPhone has been for Apple and OS X. Adding thousands of commercial developers to your platform is never a bad thing!
The number one killer blow for every competitor trying to better the iPhone is the App Store.
Think about it, how many times have Apple launched something that is paradigm shifting and then improved, improved, improved, improved and improved until it is something that you just have to admire and wonder how we ever managed without it.
This is still v1 of the App Store, and the iPhone SDK is still in its’ infancy. In time, Apple will allow developers access to more of the hardware (Bluetooth, iPod connector, Camera etc.) and this device (it seems unfair to call it a phone) will just get more and more powerful. Rome was not built in a day.
It’s an old saying, but it still holds true to this day:
“It’s the software, stupid.”
I don’t see the big deal. It’s just another sales channel (albeit large) for Apple. BTW ipod/touch has been available a Walmart for some time now already–what’s the big news here? The selling of the iphone @ Walmart? What’s the point really–you still have to go to the ATT store to activate it..
Jobs doesn’t worry about Android. The iPhone goes naturally where the iPod/iPodTouch have gone (CostCo/Sam’s Club next?). The G1 may be a bit slicker than the Linux gPC that stayed on Wal-Mart’s shelves for only a few months, but the best thing Google can do to sell it to the general public (the ~90% Windows/80% iPod crowd) is just avoid mentioning it runs Linux.
“Let’s be synonymous here –
Google has a lot of money -“
Yes, they do, and 47 partners including phone companies that sell more phones in a day than Apple sells in a year.
Maybe if Apple licenses the iPhone OS to Motorola, LG, Samsung, Sony, HTC and Asus they’ll get to 80% share. Otherwise the future belongs to Windows Mobile and Android.
“It’s an old saying, but it still holds true to this day:
“It’s the software, stupid.””
There’s another saying, it’s just a phone, stupid. For 95% of the population, a simple contact list, a dial pad and keys to start and end calls are all they need or use. They’re the ones who are going to buy hundreds of millions of simple and cheap Android phones, and maybe use the occasional extra application on it.
Predicting the death of something or a boodbath is deluded when your favorite product commands a fraction of a percent of the overall market for devices.