Target rumored to sell Apple's iPad in stores starting Oct. 3 - Page 2

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S.

Originally Posted by melgross

Walmart has been selling Apple products for years, and Apple's brand hasn't been diluted. In fact, the value of Apple's brand has been going up over the years. It's now rated as being one of the worlds more valuable. Selling a product in Target, as they now do with iPods, is a good idea, as people who are on the fence about buying one, but need to handle it first, which is only fair for such a different product from what they are used to, can't often get to an Apple store, or a Best Buy. This widens the areas in which people can actually see and handle the products, which is how Apple sells them. Often once they are used for a few minutes, people decide to buy them.

Originally Posted by Newtron

Now that Apple is targeting the great unwashed masses, Wal*Mart and Target make a lot of sense for its products.

Originally Posted by Bageljoey

...or that sales have dropped off a cliff!

.

JK JK JK

Originally Posted by Blackintosh

That's where a watered down Mac belongs. In the bargain basement.

Originally Posted by melgross

Walmart has been selling Apple products for years, and Apple's brand hasn't been diluted. In fact, the value of Apple's brand has been going up over the years. It's now rated as being one of the worlds more valuable. Selling a product in Target, as they now do with iPods, is a good idea, as people who are on the fence about buying one, but need to handle it first, which is only fair for such a different product from what they are used to, can't often get to an Apple store, or a Best Buy. This widens the areas in which people can actually see and handle the products, which is how Apple sells them. Often once they are used for a few minutes, people decide to buy them.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Exactly. I live nearly an hour from the nearest Apple Store, but I'm only twenty minutes away from two Target stores. In terms of brand protection, Apple is better off with Target than Wal-Mart. For reasons that I don't entirely understand, Target is considered to be upscale compared to the other mass-market retailers.

Originally Posted by Carmissimo

This is great news for me because I happen to be a Walmart employee and hence have a discount. If Walmart already offers the iPod and the iPhone, why not the iPad. The iPad is not a niche product, it's Apple's response to the netbook and hence fits in at the low end of the computer pricing scheme.

There is a misconception that Apple's stuff is pricey and not intended for a broader audience. Bull. Apple's products are premium, as far as popular electronics go, but that doesn't mean it's all excessively priced. Apple aims for affordable quality. Fact is, the iPad is meant to bring on something of a revolution and what's a revolution without the people? If Apple wants to sell this product by the millions, then they'll market it like the iPod line of products. Why wouldn't Apple do that? It's not like Jobs and his cohorts have something against making boatloads of cash.

The only way Apple would nix the iPad being sold all over would be if the pricing was compromised but since this is a high-demand product, no retailer will refuse to sell the product at a price point of Apple's choosing.

By the way, regarding when an update will take place, Apple's not going to bring one out in time for the holidays but I doubt Apple will wait until April to do it, either. Expect a new model to hit the streets around the time that most competitors start flooding the market with their likely inferior alternatives. What Apple does not want is to release a new version now, giving competitors a higher standard to aspire to. Let them try to take on the current iPad and then early next year raise the bar on them after they have revealed what their initial tablets will look like.

Originally Posted by melgross

Taret is considered to be "cooler" than Walmart is, that's for sure, except out in rural areas where Walmart is about the only place to go.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

Even Sears is cooler than Wal-Mart, so that's not saying much. I suppose it goes back to hiring Robert Graves to design some of their products. It's amazing how much mileage they've gotten out of that one. I know people who happily shop at Target but wouldn't be caught dead in any of the other mass market retailers.

Originally Posted by melgross

But Walmart is still the biggest by far. All the others put together don't equal Walmart's sales. That's neither good nor bad, it just is.

Apple has to pursue sales wherever it can. Being too exclusive hurt them too much over the years. Of course, Apple's stores don't exactly hurt. But it will be years yet before there are enough of them. And still, there will be hoards of people who won't go to one but would rather buy where they buy most of their other stuff.

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

I think the mix of Apple Store and mass-market is just about right currently, selling iPhones and iPods at the mass marketers and Macs mainly through their own stores, where they can be demonstrated and maintained properly. You may remember this was the problem when Apple was trying to sell Macs in retailers like Sears. If they do start to sell the iPad at either Target or Wal-Mart, it's got to be seen as Apple venturing carefully into new territory, into a retail environment that has not worked well for them historically. Just look at their on again/off again relationship with Best Buy.

Originally Posted by mgl323

I really hope Target does get Apple's iPad. Target is just a few minutes away from my house, compare to a few miles away from a Apple's store.

Originally Posted by melgross

It wasn't just a problem with Sears. Do you remember "The Wiz". We had several here, and they sold Macs. There was a small display of two, sometimes three computers, not always working. No one in the stores knew or cared.

I think today it would be different. Apple is THE hot brand. Everyone wants to carry Apple stuff.

Originally Posted by Newtron

Now that Apple is targeting the great unwashed masses, Wal*Mart and Target make a lot of sense for its products.

Originally Posted by Dave K.

Provided those 10 tops lists aren't forged...

Originally Posted by Doctor David

Very snobbish of you.

Originally Posted by Avidfcp

So they can sell the newer product to the exact same people, over and over.

Originally Posted by lilgto64

I think the suggestion here is that if the lead time to ship an order is only 24 hours - that the demand via existing channels is nearing saturation and that in order to maintain the supply-demand ratio that drives the current price - more locations are needed to reach more customers and increase the demand end of the equation to keep pace with the supply.

Originally Posted by Dave K.

Once a year is waay too long for an update... Better happen in November with iOS 4.0.

Originally Posted by Newtron

I don't believe that. Apple products contain many half-baked features.

On the iPhone alone, the Voice Command hardly ever works. The Compass, important for maps, is lousy. And don't get me started on Finder or Springboard..