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Topic: Hardware

iPhone 3G coming to Walmart, Sam's Club Dec. 28

Summary: Walmart will begin selling Apple's iPhone 3G on December 28th in select locations, eventually expanding to 2,500 stores, according to BoyGeniusReport.Sam's Club gets in on the action too, with 69 locations offering the handset on the 28th.

Andrew Nusca

By for The ToyBox |

Apple iPhone 3GWalmart will begin selling Apple's iPhone 3G on December 28th in select locations, eventually expanding to 2,500 stores, according to BoyGeniusReport.

Sam's Club gets in on the action too, with 69 locations offering the handset on the 28th. Some stores will reportedly get live demo units to display, similar to those at Best Buy Mobile.

No word on pricing for the iPhone, which will probably stay that way until holiday shopping is over. Will there be discounts?

Internal Wal-Mart correspondence, via BGR:

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.  AT&T will support Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club with the activation process for iPhone 3G, and we need all National Retail employees engaged to ensure a successful launch.

*NOTE: This product launch DOES NOT apply to SC Kiosks within Sam’s Club managed by Radio Shack.

Wal-Mart has communicated the following launch plans and execution timeline to their employees:

  • iPhone 3G will be available in-store only beginning 12/28/08
  • New and existing customers in good standing can purchase iPhone 3G with a 2 year contract
  • iPhone 3G transactions only will be processed through POS.com, not the kiosk

Execution Timeline:

  • 12/2 – 12/5:  AT&T / Wal-Mart MEM Classroom Training for Store Leads
  • 12/3 – 12/19:  AT&T In-Store Training
  • 12/26 – 12/27:  AT&T In-Store Refresher Training
  • 12/28: Nationwide Launch
  • 12/28 – 12/30:  Wal-Mart and AT&T War Room Support

Thoughts? Tell us in TalkBack.

Topics: Hardware, iPhone, Mobility, Networking, AT&T, Wi-Fi

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33 comments
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  • Apple is hurting!

    Walmart rarely sells anything it can't discount better than anyone else. Next in store - Cadillac Escalades at the Walmart Tire Center?
    kd5auq
    Reply Vote

    • Or perhaps?

      Or perhaps Apple is expanding?? Considering their last quarter, Mac sales, iPod sales, and iPhone sales, I'd say your comment is a stretch at best!
      Tiggster
      Reply Vote

    • Dumbest Quote Of The Day

      Just because WalMart is selling it doesn't mean they are hurting...

      So does that mean Mattel, Sony, JVC, Microsoft, Nintendo, Dell, HP are all hurting?

      Thanks for the non-input.
      itanalyst2@...
      Reply Vote

    • Indication of Strength for Both Walmart and Apple

      Traditionally Walmart has focused on selling those items it could discount, but Walmart has made major strides to attract more upscale customers, so the iPhone is a big win for them, with, or without a discount.

      This is also a huge win for Apple (clearly not an indication that they are hurting) as it will greatly expand the distribution network in the US and lead to further increases in sales.
      DavidBulkin
      Reply Vote

  • #1 device worldwide

    AdMob, the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace,
    today announced the iPhone is now the #1 device worldwide.

    Boy, according to many here that is sure a lot of clueless
    idiots.

    Viva la Apple!
    CowLauncher
    Reply Vote

    • Where's No_Ax and Loverock?

      Both slammed the IPhone at launch and said it would be a miserable failure.

      Looks like the miserable failure is the two of them.
      itanalyst2@...
      Reply Vote

      • Nice to read a thread about apple

        without Loverocks biased inflammatory comments! nice that they took the morning off....
        jphines79
        Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 3G coming to Walmart, Sam's Club Dec. 28

    Sam's club does discount the iPod Touch where nobody else does (or can), so maybe they will have some kind of discount. As much as I despise WalMart, I have to admire their agressiveness
    scrimshaw.robert@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 3G coming to Walmart, Sam's Club Dec. 28

    I wouldnt want to buy my iphone at walmart and its kind of a turn off that we're going to be able to.
    solarays
    Reply Vote

    • ?

      why would you care where you buy it?
      e_s
      Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 3G coming to Walmart, Sam's Club Dec. 28

    why would you care where you buy it?
    e_s
    Reply Vote

  • RE: iPhone 3G coming to Walmart, Sam's Club Dec. 28

    Oh, well. So much for the premium brand :-(

    Will the genius be there as well? Nearest Apple bar is 70
    miles away and I'm going to need them soon with my camera
    doing weird green photos...
    Rufus Dogg
    Reply Vote

  • A Fat, Overfed, Undereducated iPhone

    The most confoundingly stupid thing Apple could do: sell a device that's in no small part successful because of its high-end feel in America's low-end clearing house that caters to the lowest-common-denominator buyer. I'm not suggesting Apple should sell the iPhone 3G in Nordstrom. But to diminish their brand's appeal indeed peels away a critical layer of gloss that first put the iPhone on the map. If Apple's going to do it, market a model like the first generation or a rumored new, scaled-down iPhone at Walmart--and do it from the get go. Market the top model there, and in the world's eye the device begins not only to look like Walmart but also the customer who'll buy it.
    ninexpoundhammer
    Reply Vote

    • seriously

      What in the world are thinking here? Because walmart
      sells something the thing is diminished? Are you captive
      to some image of a product, rather than the thing itself?
      Apple has been selling ipods, including the touch, classic
      etc at walmart for years. Who cares? The product is the
      product, not the place where it is sold.
      dspeers@...
      Reply Vote

      • Image Is Everything

        Haven't you EVER heard that image IS everything? The product in this case is great, don't get me wrong but have you been in an apple store? I'd say this brand is highly image conscious.
        annetrueblood
        Reply Vote

      • And look what happened

        Ipod is popular, but it is something everyone has. It is no longer the status symbol it once was. I see elemamtary kids with iPods all of the time.
        cmgalaxy
        Reply Vote

        • The success of the device...

          isn't based on if it's used as a status symbol or not. Using your reasoning, cars suck because poor people have them now. As do CD players. Why, for that matter it could apply to anything that once was a new product.

          And I imagine Apple cares a lot more about its overall sales than whether you see the product as a status symbol.
          cslycord@...
          Reply Vote

    • 9lb hammer ust be an 0bama voter...

      ...because he believes that people who shop at WalMart are somehow inferior to him. Actually, 9 lb of s***, you are the inferior being for believing as you do.
      rnotaro@...
      Reply Vote

    • A sad state

      Some of you folks are so worked up about my blue-blood snotty
      post. My goodness. Is satire truly *that dead? Real satire, not wry
      humor or some poorly thought out quip. I guess it is. I do concur
      though with other posts regarding Walmart's horrendous and
      nearly insane lack of an ethical spine. Maybe all of us, including
      Steve Jobs, should read again the pieces about Walmart from the
      Los Angeles Times, which brought it all to light and won a Pulitzer
      Prize for doing so. ... Sigh. When satire dies, we all do.--M. Twain.
      ninexpoundhammer
      Reply Vote

  • Exactly!

    Exactly!!! In today's culture the image of a product is just as important as the product!!! You probably state a point people don't want to hear because it could sound classist but there's a reason Volvo took a big public relations hit when Ford bought the company. Volvo lost its cache. Mercedes won't sell their cars at Sam's Club because it damages their brand more than it would help sales!!!!!
    Mingish
    Reply Vote
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