Walmart's $74 iPhone 4S discount was a 'pricing error' [u]

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Walmart, the largest retailer in the U.S., dropped the price of Apple's iPhone 4S with a two-year AT&T contract by as much as $74 at some locations, but the retailer later explained that the reductions were a "pricing error."

The price drop was first discovered at a Walmart store in Edmond, Okla., by Cult of Mac. There, both the black and white 16-gigabyte AT&T iPhone 4S is on sale for $114, down $74 from Walmart's usual $188 price.

In addition, the iPhone 4 was also reduced in price at the big-box retailer's location. There customers can get both the black and white 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 for just $34, on sale from Walmart's usual $88 price with a new two-year contract.

The sale is not reflected on Walmart's website, but it isn't confined to just one store. The Verge also found that one store in Austin, Tex., was also offering the iPhone 4S for $114, though none of the stores they spoke with were offering the iPhone 4 for less than $88.

Update: In a statement to CNet, Walmart said the price change was the result of a "pricing error in limited stores." The issue has since "been addressed and normal prices are in effect."

Even without the sale in effect, Walmart's low-margin business model allows the retailer to sell Apple's iPhone at prices lower than the suggested retail price. The 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S has an MSRP of $199 with a two-year contract, while the 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 regularly costs $99.

Walmart


One study released in March revealed that Walmart does not play a significant role in iPhone sales. Outside of direct carrier sales, Apple sells 15 percent of iPhones in the U.S., while Best Buy accounts for 13 percent. The collective group of Walmart, Target, Radio Shack and Sam's Club accounts for just 3 percent of domestic iPhone sales.

Last quarter, Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones to start 2012, a higher-than-expected sum driven largely by international expansion of the iPhone 4S. Still, in the U.S., Apple's iPhone was the most popular smartphone at AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, the nation's three largest wireless carriers.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 49
    tshorttshort Posts: 46member


    No mention of the 32GB iPhone 4S? Do they not sell it?

  • Reply 2 of 49


    How does this make people feel?  Is it really wise to sell at a discount at Mall*Wart?

  • Reply 3 of 49
    tsun zutsun zu Posts: 72member


    iPhone 5 coming soon?

  • Reply 4 of 49
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member


    TS - where is your first post to jump ahead of all the people that will say this is a sign that they are dumping the iPhone because it isn't selling (or that the iPhone 5 is coming soon).

     

  • Reply 5 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tsun Zu View Post

    iPhone 5 coming soon?


     


    *Dies Irae plays as I douse myself with gasoline*


     



    Quote:

    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post

    TS - where is your first post to jump ahead of all the people that will say this is a sign that they are dumping the iPhone because it isn't selling (or that the iPhone 5 is coming soon).



     


    On the contrary. My post on the original story on CultofMac was as follows:


     


    Quote:


    Poor dopes actually think there will be a new iPhone a month from now.

     


    Screw 'em.




     


    GOSH DANG IT FORUM, DON'T KEEP MY FORMATTING. I don't know how to get rid of colored backgrounds. I shouldn't care about that; they shouldn't come along. I want to be able to take text from anywhere and paste it into a quote and have it look good. I can't even do that HERE; all post <div>'s apparently don't have their own background color; it's applied to the TEXT for whatever nonsensical reason. JUST…


     


    *sigh* image

  • Reply 6 of 49
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member


    Maybe just a loss leader to attract new customers to the stores?

  • Reply 7 of 49
    kent909kent909 Posts: 731member
    [LIST]
    [*]
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    Wow, this will save you save you $3 a month off your $85+/mo. cell phone bill. If that isn't exciting enough for you, you get to shop at Wall-Mart. Life is good. I wonder if these people will get a $4 fee added onto their bill for YGCP. You Got a Cheap Phone?
  • Reply 8 of 49
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    GOSH DANG IT FORUM, DON'T KEEP MY FORMATTING. I don't know how to get rid of colored backgrounds. I shouldn't care about that; they shouldn't come along. I want to be able to take text from anywhere and paste it into a quote and have it look good. I can't even do that HERE; all post <div>'s apparently don't have their own background color; it's applied to the TEXT for whatever nonsensical reason. JUST…


     


    *sigh* image



    Did you try pasting using "paste and match style"?

  • Reply 9 of 49
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member


    Maybe and BIG MAYBE, Tim and the boys in Cupertino ARE planning a iPhone June release to reschedule release dates so that the September/October time frame for the Holiday Shopping Season is reserved for something new coming from Apple?


     


    Okay...  before anyone else decries it...  I call


     


    BS on my own post! (insert missing emoticon here, tired of laughing one... and only laughing one!).


    /


    /


    /

  • Reply 10 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by WelshDog View Post


    Did you try pasting using "paste and match style"?



     


    "?" *Loohs it up. Tries it* Oh, yeah, like I'm ever going to remember that. image

  • Reply 11 of 49
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    BS on my own post! (insert missing emoticon here, tired of laughing one... and only laughing one!).


    image



    image

  • Reply 12 of 49
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    What would the trolls say? "The iPhone 4S is being discounted because nobody wants a phone without <niche-attribute /> ?"
  • Reply 13 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    What would the trolls say? "The iPhone 4S is being discounted because nobody wants a phone without ?"


     


    A 5" screen.


    Android.


    A stylus.


    Candy-based OS names.


    Multi-gigahertz processors.


    Multiple gigabytes of RAM.


    Quad-core processors.


    Removable batteries.


    Snapdragon.


     


    Hey, look, alphabetical.

  • Reply 14 of 49
    island hermitisland hermit Posts: 6,217member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


     


    A 5" screen.


    Android.


    A stylus.


    Candy-based OS names.


    Multi-gigahertz processors.


    Multiple gigabytes of RAM.


    Quad-core processors.


    Removable batteries.


    Snapdragon.


     


    Hey, look, alphabetical.



     


    You forgot an M... microSD expansion.

  • Reply 15 of 49
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post

    You forgot an M... microSD expansion.


     


    I did indeed. And MicroUSB port. And MiniHDMI.

  • Reply 16 of 49
    noahjnoahj Posts: 4,503member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


     


    You forgot an M... microSD expansion.



     






    Steve Jobs killed that one personally.

  • Reply 17 of 49

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    What would the trolls say? "The iPhone 4S is being discounted because nobody wants a phone without <niche-attribute /> ?"


    I think we can all agree that this is obviously a fire sale.

  • Reply 18 of 49
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    rot'napple wrote: »
    Maybe and BIG MAYBE, Tim and the boys in Cupertino ARE planning a iPhone June release to reschedule release dates so that the September/October time frame for the Holiday Shopping Season is reserved for something new coming from Apple?

    Okay...  before anyone else decries it...  I call

    [SIZE=18px]BS[/SIZE] on my own post! (insert missing emoticon here, tired of laughing one... and only laughing one!).
    /
    /
    /

    Actually, I think you're on to somethings:

    1) July-August new iPhone

    2) September-October iTV

    The iTV (Interactive TV) will be a powerful iOS STB that allows you to interact with a connected HDTV using companion iPads...

    ...Interactively pause, scrub, telestrate, annotate, magnify, zoom, adjust, composite, access metadata (compare prices, shop, buy, mark for later review, etc.) live, streamed or recorded TV (including pictures, slide shows, documents, books, reference/educational material, presentations, etc.).

    Coming soon to your big box store of choice.

    That's how Steve cracked it !
  • Reply 19 of 49
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    A 5" screen.
    Android.
    A stylus.
    Candy-based OS names.
    Multi-gigahertz processors.
    Multiple gigabytes of RAM.
    Quad-core processors.
    Removable batteries.
    Snapdragon.

    Hey, look, alphabetical.

    Whoa, alphabetical? I'm not sure you want to do that as it probably violates someone's copyright based on "structure, sequence and organization". :0
  • Reply 20 of 49
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    You forgot an M... microSD expansion.

    Yeah, and a little microSD card wallet to store and organize all the cards... You could even have a master "index" card so you could drill-down to the exact card holding a specific file, app or game...
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