well over here on the west coast, the about 90% of the people i see in walmart are either crackheads or people that really have no business owening a computer because if their 13 children wont have food for months. i live in oregon and its really that bad here. so your interpretation of who shops at walmart in incorrect.
and second, the people who work in the electronics are complete idiots. i have tried getting help from them but it is useless. apple would have no other choice but to put their own employees in the store otherwise apple would fail. i personally think apple should keep what they are doing. putting macs in a wal-mart is a bad idea. and also, they would go through so many display computers it wouldn't be worth it. i have seen kids put the wii mote in their mouths and throw it around while the parents don't even pay attention. i would hate to see people abuse apple products like that.
Oh, yes, I lay awake at night worrying about people abusing Apple products. Thanks for that in depth analysis of Walmart customers. I too, waste my life worrying about who actually owns Apple products. Please note the acid smell of sarcasm. It is NOYB what people buy or where they buy it.
How did this become a class issue? It has nothing to do with a particular consumer's class level--not to mention, my boss just dropped $1500 for a 52" flat screen at Wal-mart, and he's hardly poor, a redneck, or perceived as 'lesser than.' My Wal-mart is kinda nice.
The issue here is that a lot of retailers have a 'set and forget it' approach to merchandising. If Apple creates self-sustainable displays then Macs can sell themselves; however, it they are expecting the average Wal-mart employee to be able to explain the difference between a Mac and a PC they we're back in 1998.
Its a class issue because a subset of Mac users are not here for the computer or the operating system, they're here because owning an Apple product makes them feel exclusive/special/better than everyone else. The company and platform thriving is a threat to that.
I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in eight years. It truly is "redneck central", and not somewhere Apple computers need to be sold.
I shop at Wal-Mart. I am an environmentalist and an independent in terms of politics but with a socialist-leaning philosophy 80% of the time. But I shop at Wal-Mart. Why? Because I am poor. OK lower middle class. After federal taxes, I am close to the poverty line. I am fine with that.
Nevertheless, what do I buy at Wal-Mart? Frequently, brand name stuff. High end or middle of the road stuff. Nobody messes with Wal-Mart. It negotiates the best prices, and usually but not always passes them on to consumers at least in part. Of course you have to be smart, it is fascinating how not everything on any given day will be cheaper at Wal-Mart, but again, many times it is. Thus, I would not be surprised if they chipped 10 or 20 bucks off some Mac or iPod models. Apple would probably only have to sell them for a few bucks less, but Wal-Mart's economy of scale would do the rest. Why do people shop at Wal-Mart? To save that 10 bucks. Because when you are poor or middle-class, 10 bucks is, well, 10 bucks. It's something.
Will Wal-Mart diminish Apple's "brand", which certainly helps it charge what it does and have high and industry-leading profit margins? Perhaps. Maybe that is why Apple won't sell Macs at Wal-Mart. But if it does, that's probably where I'll get my next Mac. Probably a lot of other folks, too. Either way, I'm sure AAPL is on its way up and up.
I disagree. I use mine much more than my MacBook. It's small, light, and cool running on my lap.
Netbooks are a perfect option between practically-useless-for-the-web smart phones, and much more expensive and heavy notebook computers. Low end Macs might do well at Wal-Mart but netbooks will continue to enjoy phenomenal growth as more people discover how useful netbooks are for what they do most; web surfing and email.
[QUOTE=Mr.Scott;1418816]There is no "mythical perception". Walk into one and tell me you truly see the class of people that visit an Apple Store is the same. QUOTE]
You need to realize the ambience of an Apple Store with its fine wood, slate, steel and glass has much to do with the "mythical perception" of those customers "appearing" rich... It's like a beautiful hotel, a person automatically becomes "classy" when surrounded by fine quality materials. Take 80 people from an Apple Store and put them in a Walmart, and your "mythical perception" will peg them as poor... it's how surroundings affect perception.
does this mean there will be a redneck version of the iMac coming so the rednecks can feel superior now? the rMac? so
someone needs to dig up that old screenshot of the redneck version of windows
i bet these are the rumors of the cheaper Macs. Apple is going to make a box with entry level LCD or whatever screens they use like Dell does on it's entry level systems.
Fergie from the Fugee's is a Mac user but stars (without face shot) for HP commercial, And Brad Paisly (country singer) was on-scene at a Mac store opening and praising them. Shania, Mac user. Alan Jack, MAC user. Jimmy Buffett - mac user.... And the list goes on and on... BTW: Jimmy's Far side of the world video (on the CD) shows him using a PB 12" in Africa.
Rumor has it a 15.6" iMac WAS, REPEAT WAS, in the works using the Mini guts. With the small tethered board and new AL mouse retailed for $699 wouldn't be a bad thing. Of course the Mini get's the bump to 2.26/2.66 first leaving this at 2.0/1gb/160gb... Mini bump I heard is with SL, 2.26/2gb/250gb and 2.66/2gb/320gb pricing dropping to $549/$649 in line with Intel's drop on that CPU.
Should be a good summer.... Not all rednecks shop walmart. I say do it. But I see a problem in turnover of emp's at Walmarts seeing as Apple will want them to be trained much like the BB folks (Apple Certified Service Rep).
There is no "mythical perception". Walk into one and tell me you truly see the class of people that visit an Apple Store is the same. QUOTE]
You need to realize the ambience of an Apple Store with its fine wood, slate, steel and glass has much to do with the "mythical perception" of those customers "appearing" rich... It's like a beautiful hotel, a person automatically becomes "classy" when surrounded by fine quality materials. Take 80 people from an Apple Store and put them in a Walmart, and your "mythical perception" will peg them as poor... it's how surroundings affect perception.
Yes, and there's a technical term for that as well in both Marketing and Physc.
Let me summarize what a retailer needs to do in the vast majority of cases in order to sell a Mac or related Apple product: present the customer with a box in exchange for payment. I'm pretty sure this can be handled at any Walmart location. One of the main selling points of a Mac (or iPod, AppleTV, etc) is that it just works without any need for extensive hand holding. There are still many places (like Tucson) where the only Apple Store is a long drive away and the purchaser just wants to exchange money for a box. Walmart can fulfill this function at least as well as Best Buy.
This could be a good thing for consumers. Walmart does not play that "you cannot sell for less" game. If they want it to be less expensive, they usually get their way.
Face it: Wal Mart is America's retailer. They have stores everywhere. If the store is in a less affluent area, the customers are going to be what some of you snobs are calling rednecks. If the store is in an upscale neighborhood, the customers are going to be more affluent.
There are only two Apple stores in my state. As it happens, one of them is 20 minutes from my house. There are several Best Buys in the area also that sell Macs. But if Macs are selling at Wal Mart and they have a better price (and especially if they have Wal Mart's typically generous return policy) I am going to buy my next Mac at Wal Mart. And probably so are a lot of other people, which is why Apple is doing this--it's just good business.
I apologize if someone has already written about this, but the Pre apparently is going to launch at select WalMart stores. Interesting this wasn't mentioned in this article. Best Buy apparently will launch it also. I love healthy competition. The Pre in my opinion is pretty ugly and the OS interface is not very polished/intuitive. I see a huge Pre FAIL in light of reasonable rumors of what is to come from iPhone 3.0
A few months ago I visited my local Best Buy store to check out the macs. The mac table was deserted of customers and sales staff. As usual.
I sat down at a macbook pro and found that a screen saver password was put on it. This struck me as very odd for a retail store. Looking around and seeing no sales staff, I tried a few simple words like apple, mac and bestbuy, but nothing worked. I got up, walked around and finally located a sales guy.
I told him about the screensaver password and asked him what it was. He said he didn't know for sure but after a few tries he finally got it right. I asked him why they put a password on the computers and he said he didn't know why. He said sorry and walked away.
Oh, yes, I lay awake at night worrying about people abusing Apple products. Thanks for that in depth analysis of Walmart customers. I too, waste my life worrying about who actually owns Apple products. Please note the acid smell of sarcasm. It is NOYB what people buy or where they buy it.
Face it: Wal Mart is America's retailer. They have stores everywhere. If the store is in a less affluent area, the customers are going to be what some of you snobs are calling rednecks. If the store is in an upscale neighborhood, the customers are going to be more affluent.
There are only two Apple stores in my state. As it happens, one of them is 20 minutes from my house. There are several Best Buys in the area also that sell Macs. But if Macs are selling at Wal Mart and they have a better price (and especially if they have Wal Mart's typically generous return policy) I am going to buy my next Mac at Wal Mart. And probably so are a lot of other people, which is why Apple is doing this--it's just good business.
that is what i was talking about in my post. i live in oregon. the wal-marts here are trashy. and the employees are worthless in the electronics department. you can't ask them any questions because they just don't know. i have been to the california wal-marts before. they are completely different than the wal-marts where i live. i have talked to lots of people that are considerably poorer than most. they will go for the budget PC because thats all they care about. the price! i can explain to people here till i am blue in the face and they always bring up the price as the main argument. i hate to say it but the "Im a PC" ads unfortunately work. i was a little harsh in my first post, my bad. however i will stick to my original thinking of wal-mart shouldn't let people try them out. if they do they should at least keep them in a display case like the ipods.
Comments
well over here on the west coast, the about 90% of the people i see in walmart are either crackheads or people that really have no business owening a computer because if their 13 children wont have food for months. i live in oregon and its really that bad here. so your interpretation of who shops at walmart in incorrect.
and second, the people who work in the electronics are complete idiots. i have tried getting help from them but it is useless. apple would have no other choice but to put their own employees in the store otherwise apple would fail. i personally think apple should keep what they are doing. putting macs in a wal-mart is a bad idea. and also, they would go through so many display computers it wouldn't be worth it. i have seen kids put the wii mote in their mouths and throw it around while the parents don't even pay attention. i would hate to see people abuse apple products like that.
Oh, yes, I lay awake at night worrying about people abusing Apple products. Thanks for that in depth analysis of Walmart customers. I too, waste my life worrying about who actually owns Apple products. Please note the acid smell of sarcasm. It is NOYB what people buy or where they buy it.
How did this become a class issue? It has nothing to do with a particular consumer's class level--not to mention, my boss just dropped $1500 for a 52" flat screen at Wal-mart, and he's hardly poor, a redneck, or perceived as 'lesser than.' My Wal-mart is kinda nice.
The issue here is that a lot of retailers have a 'set and forget it' approach to merchandising. If Apple creates self-sustainable displays then Macs can sell themselves; however, it they are expecting the average Wal-mart employee to be able to explain the difference between a Mac and a PC they we're back in 1998.
Its a class issue because a subset of Mac users are not here for the computer or the operating system, they're here because owning an Apple product makes them feel exclusive/special/better than everyone else. The company and platform thriving is a threat to that.
I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in eight years. It truly is "redneck central", and not somewhere Apple computers need to be sold.
I shop at Wal-Mart. I am an environmentalist and an independent in terms of politics but with a socialist-leaning philosophy 80% of the time. But I shop at Wal-Mart. Why? Because I am poor. OK lower middle class. After federal taxes, I am close to the poverty line. I am fine with that.
Nevertheless, what do I buy at Wal-Mart? Frequently, brand name stuff. High end or middle of the road stuff. Nobody messes with Wal-Mart. It negotiates the best prices, and usually but not always passes them on to consumers at least in part. Of course you have to be smart, it is fascinating how not everything on any given day will be cheaper at Wal-Mart, but again, many times it is. Thus, I would not be surprised if they chipped 10 or 20 bucks off some Mac or iPod models. Apple would probably only have to sell them for a few bucks less, but Wal-Mart's economy of scale would do the rest. Why do people shop at Wal-Mart? To save that 10 bucks. Because when you are poor or middle-class, 10 bucks is, well, 10 bucks. It's something.
Will Wal-Mart diminish Apple's "brand", which certainly helps it charge what it does and have high and industry-leading profit margins? Perhaps. Maybe that is why Apple won't sell Macs at Wal-Mart. But if it does, that's probably where I'll get my next Mac. Probably a lot of other folks, too. Either way, I'm sure AAPL is on its way up and up.
Still doesn't change the fact netbooks are junk.
I disagree. I use mine much more than my MacBook. It's small, light, and cool running on my lap.
Netbooks are a perfect option between practically-useless-for-the-web smart phones, and much more expensive and heavy notebook computers. Low end Macs might do well at Wal-Mart but netbooks will continue to enjoy phenomenal growth as more people discover how useful netbooks are for what they do most; web surfing and email.
You need to realize the ambience of an Apple Store with its fine wood, slate, steel and glass has much to do with the "mythical perception" of those customers "appearing" rich... It's like a beautiful hotel, a person automatically becomes "classy" when surrounded by fine quality materials. Take 80 people from an Apple Store and put them in a Walmart, and your "mythical perception" will peg them as poor... it's how surroundings affect perception.
does this mean there will be a redneck version of the iMac coming so the rednecks can feel superior now? the rMac? so
someone needs to dig up that old screenshot of the redneck version of windows
i bet these are the rumors of the cheaper Macs. Apple is going to make a box with entry level LCD or whatever screens they use like Dell does on it's entry level systems.
Fergie from the Fugee's is a Mac user but stars (without face shot) for HP commercial, And Brad Paisly (country singer) was on-scene at a Mac store opening and praising them. Shania, Mac user. Alan Jack, MAC user. Jimmy Buffett - mac user.... And the list goes on and on... BTW: Jimmy's Far side of the world video (on the CD) shows him using a PB 12" in Africa.
Rumor has it a 15.6" iMac WAS, REPEAT WAS, in the works using the Mini guts. With the small tethered board and new AL mouse retailed for $699 wouldn't be a bad thing. Of course the Mini get's the bump to 2.26/2.66 first leaving this at 2.0/1gb/160gb... Mini bump I heard is with SL, 2.26/2gb/250gb and 2.66/2gb/320gb pricing dropping to $549/$649 in line with Intel's drop on that CPU.
Should be a good summer.... Not all rednecks shop walmart. I say do it. But I see a problem in turnover of emp's at Walmarts seeing as Apple will want them to be trained much like the BB folks (Apple Certified Service Rep).
There is no "mythical perception". Walk into one and tell me you truly see the class of people that visit an Apple Store is the same. QUOTE]
You need to realize the ambience of an Apple Store with its fine wood, slate, steel and glass has much to do with the "mythical perception" of those customers "appearing" rich... It's like a beautiful hotel, a person automatically becomes "classy" when surrounded by fine quality materials. Take 80 people from an Apple Store and put them in a Walmart, and your "mythical perception" will peg them as poor... it's how surroundings affect perception.
Yes, and there's a technical term for that as well in both Marketing and Physc.
I don't know what you're getting upset about, just read what you wrote.
Sigh. No, you thought the "tone" was the important thing. I tend to go with what people actually say.
In my zip code, the average adjusted gross income is $115,574 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit). Just for comparison, AGI in the zip codes for Mountain View, CA are $79,684 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit) and $108,836 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit). All of the Wal Marts in my area are nice. As hard as it is for some of you to believe, Macs would be right at home there.
There are only two Apple stores in my state. As it happens, one of them is 20 minutes from my house. There are several Best Buys in the area also that sell Macs. But if Macs are selling at Wal Mart and they have a better price (and especially if they have Wal Mart's typically generous return policy) I am going to buy my next Mac at Wal Mart. And probably so are a lot of other people, which is why Apple is doing this--it's just good business.
I sat down at a macbook pro and found that a screen saver password was put on it. This struck me as very odd for a retail store. Looking around and seeing no sales staff, I tried a few simple words like apple, mac and bestbuy, but nothing worked. I got up, walked around and finally located a sales guy.
I told him about the screensaver password and asked him what it was. He said he didn't know for sure but after a few tries he finally got it right. I asked him why they put a password on the computers and he said he didn't know why. He said sorry and walked away.
Hmmmm... Great way to sell more macs, I thought.
If Wal-Mart sells macs, could they do much worse?
As Seen on C-Net, The Open Computer With OS X Leopard As Low As $554" that goes to Psystar at:
http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/a..._open_computer
???????????????????
Why does AppleInsider have a link titled "$554 OSX Leopard Computer
As Seen on C-Net, The Open Computer With OS X Leopard As Low As $554" that goes to Psystar at:
http://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/a..._open_computer
???????????????????
It?s not Spam, it?s Psystar paying for ad time with Google that are being pushed to AI because of the site content. This is legitimate business.
Oh, yes, I lay awake at night worrying about people abusing Apple products. Thanks for that in depth analysis of Walmart customers. I too, waste my life worrying about who actually owns Apple products. Please note the acid smell of sarcasm. It is NOYB what people buy or where they buy it.
*golf clap*
Hey fanboy- people have been saying the same thing about Windows for 25 years and what's its market share?
have you noticed that you keep tossing the 'fanboy' word into every thread you post on? do you get paid extra for that?
Sigh. No, you thought the "tone" was the important thing. I tend to go with what people actually say.
You're being very obstinate about your own words.
Ok, so you stated a negative proposition about the concept of Apple selling in Wal-Mart. Better?
have you noticed that you keep tossing the 'fanboy' word into every thread you post on? do you get paid extra for that?
Yes. We pay him a dollar for every time he uses the word.
Face it: Wal Mart is America's retailer. They have stores everywhere. If the store is in a less affluent area, the customers are going to be what some of you snobs are calling rednecks. If the store is in an upscale neighborhood, the customers are going to be more affluent.
In my zip code, the average adjusted gross income is $115,574 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit). Just for comparison, AGI in the zip codes for Mountain View, CA are $79,684 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit) and $108,836 (http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/T...&Submit=Submit). All of the Wal Marts in my area are nice. As hard as it is for some of you to believe, Macs would be right at home there.
There are only two Apple stores in my state. As it happens, one of them is 20 minutes from my house. There are several Best Buys in the area also that sell Macs. But if Macs are selling at Wal Mart and they have a better price (and especially if they have Wal Mart's typically generous return policy) I am going to buy my next Mac at Wal Mart. And probably so are a lot of other people, which is why Apple is doing this--it's just good business.
that is what i was talking about in my post. i live in oregon. the wal-marts here are trashy. and the employees are worthless in the electronics department. you can't ask them any questions because they just don't know. i have been to the california wal-marts before. they are completely different than the wal-marts where i live. i have talked to lots of people that are considerably poorer than most. they will go for the budget PC because thats all they care about. the price! i can explain to people here till i am blue in the face and they always bring up the price as the main argument. i hate to say it but the "Im a PC" ads unfortunately work. i was a little harsh in my first post, my bad. however i will stick to my original thinking of wal-mart shouldn't let people try them out. if they do they should at least keep them in a display case like the ipods.