iPad coming to Walmart stores next week - rumor - Page 2

The TV series Dallas finished up in 1991, so it may have been a long time since you've been exposed to American-style snobbery. For a more recent, entertaining take on that way it's done here, you may enjoy the following read, published last year:

http://www.amazon.com/Madness-Under-...6648509&sr=1-1

Thanks for the link, looks interesting ... however, it sounds more like something my (American) wife would enjoy. I had enough of the real thing growing up in the UK lol! My fictional reading taste is more Richard K Morgan BTW I always saw Dallas as a comedy ...??

Apple products always have been regraded as niche, upmarket and 'expensive' but there bound to be a few of them that could be categorise as mass market product and iPad, iPhone and iPod are precisely that. And it need all the coverage it can get (bar 99 cents/pence store or 7-Eleven) to stay ahead/level with the competitors. Vending machine is next once OTA payment is commonplace.

Totally agree, I wrote weeks ago Airports should have iPads in vending machines that take credit cards. I can well imagine the use of many business credit cards being justified for long flights

p.s. in this enlightened age shouldn't that rather long location you have say 'Queendom?'

Too bad these big box resellers can't provide an ounce of support for their customers. As an Apple Reseller, we get people that bring in their iPads bought elsewhere, and then expect us, for no charge, to help them out when they have problems.

Buy the product from us, and we're glad to help. Buy it somewhere else, and we've got to charge you for the help. If you don't like that, go back to Wal*Mart and see what they will do for you.

I agree, I live in a well off community in California and the people shopping Walmart has changed. Everyone is looking for the best possible pricing. The people shopping Walmart is very diverse now. In some cases, for certain products it would be crazy to shop anywhere else, especially when almost everything they need is available in one store.
If the Ipad continues to be successful, it will be beneficial for everyone, consumer, Apple and the competition in the long run.

My only reservation about the practicality of vending machines is that to get started with an iPad, it has to be synced with a Mac or a PC with:

* A Mac or a PC with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems:
- Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or later
- Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 3 or later
* iTunes 9.1 or later, available at www.itunes.com/download
* An iTunes Store account
* Internet access

Time may be the problem if somebody expects to buy an iPad at the airport and get it functional with only an hour remaining before a flight. It's fine, however, if you've brought your laptop and after you get to a hotel that evening, where there's WiFi available and your computer is connected to house power. You not only have to allow time for syncing, but you also need time to load apps or content onto the iPad for use on a flight when you're offline.

You must not have been following Apple very closely during the past - oh- decade. They had a general winning the war (iPod MIni) and replaced it with a completely new general (iPod Nano). Then every year since, in spite of iPod winning the war.

This is what Apple does. They will update the iPad every year.

Thompson

People said the same thing when iPods began to appear at Wal Mart, Sears, and practically everywhere. Didn't seem to hurt the Apple brand at all.

Maybe Jobs and Co know what they're doing. Maybe they know better than you. Just sayin'.

Thompson

Get ready to be surprised. Apple WILL introduce / up-date the iPad in much less time, then 1 year.

They don't have much choice in the matter. Others are coming out with similar items (sometime soon?), and with features that Apple folks / fans want.

- Smaller
- camera
-
-

They can't lead or hold on to their lead, if they wait 1 year between up-dates just can't do it.

Nice theory, but in practice it hasn't proven true. Apple has had products in Wal Mart for years, and it hasn't hurt their brand one bit.

Thompson

Care to predict a date then?

My bet is that Apple's Christmas lineup is now set in stone. The next iPad update will be announced in late January, with perhaps a March shipping date. Pretty darn close to a year. What is your prediction then?

Thompson

Certainly not before Christmas since people holding off purchases in expectation of a new model would only damage holiday sales of products physically in the distribution pipeline. Yearly product refreshes are not a sacred mantra for Apple. They followed the introduction of the 13" unibody MacBook in October 2008 with a significant line update to the 13" unibody MacBook Pro in June 2009.

Good point, Apple need to think this though, perhaps a ready to go version with some books, games and a few movies to be synced later ... especially for airports.

With the iPad finally just now coming to all these other retailers, do you think Apple is going to release a gen2 iPad so soon? I mean if they release a gen2 and again cannot keep up with demand for it again these retailers will have to wait another year to get them in their stores. I am wondering if we won't see the iPad not be updated for another year. What do you think?

In the Aliso Viejo, CA store about two hours ago. Already there, up and running..

I don't see a problem at all with Apple distributing the iPads through mass merchandisers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. You see all kinds of expensive "high-end" stuff in these places as well as Costco and Sam's Club. Some people can afford it and some can't. The iPad is a true consumer device and it is something that needs to be marketed and distributed to as many people as possible.

Apple seems hell-bent on locking up dominant market share in this new product category with the iPad like they did with the iPod. Apple really couldn't expect to do that with the iPhone in an already saturated market and when there are carrier issues to deal with. But there are no such constraints with the iPad, so why hold back when the demand is there?

The intelligent discussion would be to say that everything he said and you said are wrong. Not a stain upon you as a person just your opinions on this matter.

The only thing that matters is that the price remains the same and that there is a model out and usable with a reasonable distance From any clutter. That is because those two principles encapsulated everything about Apple.

Why whilst I may be wrong in this next statement I'll say it anyway. It seemed so obvious that the original statement was of a trollish nature I think everyone assumed like I did.

How about an iPad that syncs to this possibly soon to be coming cloud solution from Apple for everyone with a MobileMe account? If your account is with Apple then they have all the information they need.

This is a very bad idea. They need to concentrate on opening more stores instead of selling their products at the lowest common denominator.

In blister packs, hung from a rack at the check stand. Right next to the Slim Jim and the Wrigley's Spearmint.

Betting that having the devices available at so many outlets will spur more impulse buys, and also returns.

Nah, Apple is making their products available through Target and (probably) Walmart but they are not discounting them in any significant way. You can get a better price buying though Amazon with free shipping (usually if you are patient) and sales tax arbitrage. All that is going on here is distribution, distribution, distribution. Why force customers to trek to an Apple Store just to exchange money for a product in a nice box? Make it as easy as possible for a customer to make that transaction. If you need service or support later then it is time to go to the Apple Store (if it is not too far away). They (Apple) don't care where you made the purchase. If it is an Apple product they provide support.

Also the idea that there is anything like an Apple Tax is a relic from the nineties or earlier. Apple prices their products quite competitively with comparable products (not the junk where they choose not to compete). They innovate and improve at a rate that leaves their competition flailing. Wait until you see how the competing tablets are priced and they will all probably be uncompetitive 7" tablets without a comparable multitouch interface. It is just shocking how flat footed the competition has been for the multitouch based tablet. It is beginning to appear Apple will achieve an iPod style lead in the tablet market. The question might be settled by how first generation competition compares with the second generation iPad.

Apple has a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) for all of their products. It's really tough for retailers to beat the MAP, except by offering free add-ons, gift cards or the like. Some retailers (such as Fry's) use an "instant rebate" scheme as a way around MAP, but I've never seen Wal-Mart do this.

That is exactly what is going to happen soon, I am sure. Only you won't need to already have a MobileMe account. Buy a new iPad and it will sign you up and log you on, right there in the airport or wherever.

The iOS products can be sold anywhere.

Anywhere you can buy and iPod, why not? Blister pack sounds great for an iOS product. You don't need a sales person! For the iPad ... as others have said, Apple will introduce a way to set up an iPad without a Mac or PC. The cloud is coming.

BTW, want a bet that Apple will be the world's first trillion $ company within 10 years?

As a simple (and silly) thought experiment, let's work backwards. Assume a sustainable, long-run p/e of 15. That implies that Apple will need 1000/15 = $66.67B in annual earnings. Assuming they maintain their current ~20% profit margin, that will mean $330B+ in annual revenues, or about $83B per quarter.

Another way to think about it: The forecasted population of the earth is about 8B ten years from now. Apple will need to generate $40+ in annual revenues from every man, woman, and child on the globe.

I think Apple played its cards right with this product. The ipad has been a huge gamble for Apple that paid off. The reason we are not seeing as many ipad clones as people predicted is because of the ipad's price point. The profit margin on this thing is not very much and the competition were hoping the Ipad would come in at a huge mark up. They were hoping that they could then come in and offer a product for a couple of hundred dollars less and have them in Walmart and Target and Best Buy, basically undercut Apple and ride the coat tails of all the media attention and speculation. The competition were hoping the ipad would be limited to Apple Stores.
Apple beat them to the punch and beat them at their own game.

I’m carrying about 100 people per year. Let’s just say the next one hundred posters who read AI can send me my $40 via PayPal. Thanks.

I certainly agree that Apple played their cards right and that everyone was caught off guard as most were expecting a $1000 device, but Im not so sure Apple isnt making their typical margin on this device.

I think Apple is leveraging their strengths in ways that no one can begin to match and would need extensive longterm investments that make flop to even begin to compete with Apples ecosystem, OS and HW.

Yeah, I am good for something like a 100 people too.

Just 80 million people like us ten years from now, and Apple is all set!

Gimme a fill-up on number eight, a pack of Lucky Strikes, and one of those iPads.

We joke but I can recall seeing WalkMan cassette and CD players in some unlikely places.


I’d like to see Apple work with someone like RedBox to get movie rentals that be synced to an iDevice from one of their kiosks.

Brainless one Apple is suppose to be a high end company. Target and Walmart carry merchandise that is not to high end and the customers shopping there are not to influential to begin with. Piss poor combination.Like the other members said what is next Walgreens?\

Now you mention Walgreens? Where do the 'superior people' people go for their meds in your view of the socioeconomic state of America?

OK , if Apple were to do that well my share holding as of now would make that reasonably affordable.

The Walmart in my town has the iPad now. Including the accessories mentioned in the article. And a selection of third party cases and sleeves.

I was using the US Trillion BTW, not British. i.e. I meant x 1000 billion. So they are over 25% of the way there in market-cap. It doesn't seem such a stretch when viewed that way.

I guess gerald apple won't be shopping there though. Damn he is missing out on some fine heat-your-own Pizza though.