Old timers will remember that Walmart has sold Macs of various flavors several times before. And keep in mind the Waltons are huge Mac fans, so this is possible to do again... but hopefully correctly this time.
I say... Mac mini with keyboard and mouse in the box for $589... 20" iMac with keyboard and mouse for $989, entry level MacBook for $989.
Buy out the Zune displays which have never sold well, and put it right next to the iPod and iPhone displays.
Show a working iMac under a tight plastic shield, a working MacBook... and then show the Mac mini with huge words, "Choose any Monitor or TV".
That's a recipe that would work.
When buying from Walmart, nobody expects deep knowledge on the products, they just want the lowest price. That's why the wealthy shop there even though most don't realize it...
Does it really matter where Apple sells its hardware?
Yes. Years ago Macs were sold in a lot of stores. Poor customer service, busted computers, and little to no sales effort led to Apple opening its own stores. Very few retailers--Micro Center comes to mind--do a good job of hiring Mac-specific sales staff and those stores do a good job selling Macs. Best Buy was awful before, and the customer service doesn't seem much better now, but, at least it looks good, and I saw Macs coming out of the store the 2 times I visited.
Wal-mart does not bode well--unless they do a Wii-styled display [look, don't touch].
Wal-Mart is about cheapness and leaning on suppliers until they give them the lowest price possible. Selling Macs simply doesn't make from Wal-Mart's perspective.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to sell Macs at urban Wal-Marts, but a lot of small towns have nothing but a Wal-Mart to shop at, so Apple could use this to reach people that are currently unable to see a Mac in person (without driving 100+ miles). There are a lot of small towns in America.
Soon as I saw the headline Wal-Mart may carry Apple computers, I was waiting for all the condescending comments about Wal-Mart and its customers. This is so arrogant, frustrating and unnecessary. As long as Apple?s quality remains high, it should not matter if their products are sold at Wal-Mart. Apple should not try to only cater to snobs, but gain as much market share as possible. I?ve been an Apple fan for years and feel this type of junior high discussion alienates a lot of potential new Apple customers.
Image is everything, but a sale is a sale is a sale.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to sell Macs at urban Wal-Marts, but a lot of small towns have nothing but a Wal-Mart to shop at, so Apple could use this to reach people that are currently unable to see a Mac in person (without driving 100+ miles). There are a lot of small towns in America.
What percentage of Americans live in rural areas? According to the 2006 census, 80% of Canadians live in urban areas. I'm not sure if the demographic spread is similar in the U.S.
I live in Arkansas after moving down here from MN. I went to school at Arkansas State University and to continue my studies I had to take a computer intro class. When I went to the instructor to talk to him about computer requirements, Dr. Steve, told me that I had better just get used to the fact that this is "Windows-Land." Needless to say I was able to complete the course work with my "little ole Mac".... Much to his surprise. Even though I don't like WalMart all that much, it's nice to see the Mac moving into THIS foreign country!
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.
Yes. Years ago Macs were sold in a lot of stores. Poor customer service, busted computers, and little to no sales effort led to Apple opening its own stores. Very few retailers--Micro Center comes to mind--do a good job of hiring Mac-specific sales staff and those stores do a good job selling Macs. Best Buy was awful before, and the customer service doesn't seem much better now, but, at least it looks good, and I saw Macs coming out of the store the 2 times I visited.
Wal-mart does not bode well--unless they do a Wii-styled display [look, don't touch].
I'm sorry, you didn't mention crackheads or rednecks in your post. Therefore it must be ignored.
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.
Are these the same people who don't know how to spell "owening"(sic), properly punctuate or capitalize?
It really matters. I don't see Wal-Mart changing their approach to retailing to suit Apple, which means that if they went into Wal-Mart, Apple would be trying to sell Macs alongside stacks of HP computers in a box for $399, and nobody around to explain the difference. Not that anyone goes into a Wal-Mart expecting to be helped. They go in with the hopes of finding a bargain. Unless something changes massively in Wal-Mart's approach, this is not a good retail environment for Apple.
You don't know this for a fact. It's just a supposition.
If they have the store within a store done correctly, then it will work. Even though some people are disparaging Best Buy's Mac sales, i've been to a few and it looks fine. And as the article states, BB's sales have helped Apples' numbers.
Some people forget that when Apple was selling through the Wiz, Sears, and others, Apple wasn't the powerhouse it is today, and didn't have the brand recognition, nor the desirability.
Gee, Mr. Mooney, why in heck would you care where someone else bought their Apple system?
You've missed some good pricing. Walmart is consistently the lowest priced retailer of just about EVERYTHING. That is the only reason to shop at Walmart. Macs won't be discounted, since they never are, so I wouldn't buy one there. I'd buy at Best-buy for the 18 months interest free.
But you don't care, Mr. Mooney, (in my best Gayle Gordon voice) because "You're RICH!"
You make some good points dude .
May I add to all the people above me here who are talking about sacred apple image or low class>>> ARE YOU PEOPLE ******** !!!!!!
FIRST OFF apple makes metal and plastic boxes
urn feeling dead machines , do you fear that your sister will have sex with a red neck ???
apple will make sure there machines are displayed correctly
second ... who*******>>> in many places wall mart is the only store around and many people of wealth and class shop there .
AND even low income people are still people .And they still can afford $1500 for a laptop .
third are you guys ******* . to get mac 's and apple stuff in 2500 more stores and and on the walmart website is priceless . how stupid can you be . the poor treatment at some best buys sucks but apple is still getting exposure and apple machines still look better than dell face to face
4th people are first going online to research
and the they see what there friends have and then many consult their family members
THIS IS DONE BEFORE they show up at the ritz carlton to buy their mac .
Duh !!People are much smarter these days .
5>>> you guys are a bunch of window loving crybabies who spend all day at apple sites red faced with green envy .
So do you have proof of this mythical perception that most wal-mart customers are poor?
Not that this means they are poor but...
"The average household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is around $35,000 to $40,000, compared with $55,000 to $60,000 for those at rival Target Corp., Edwards said"
Average Apple consumers... not sure these days but historically, they were always significantly above average income/education level - well you'd have to be to afford one
This could be a good move to expand the franchise - most WM shoppers probably don't live near to an Apple store and might not want to go to one if they did - get them hooked on a Mac Mini or WhiteBook at their main store? An Arkansan's money is as good as anyone else's.
I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in eight years. It truly is "redneck central", and not somewhere Apple computers need to be sold.
wow, you haven't been to one in 8 years (yeah, right) but you proclaim the stores are "redneck central"? How would you know? When I go the vast majority of customers are black, asian and hispanic, are they rednecks? Redneck is just a covertly racist/elitist way to say poor people and it doesn't have any business being spouted on this board.
You may not be a fan of the way WalMart does business but if that's the case say that instead of throwing a racist term out there to try to make yourself feel better that you don't have to watch every dollar when you shop.
You don't know this for a fact. It's just a supposition.
If they have the store within a store done correctly, then it will work. Even though some people are disparaging Best Buy's Mac sales, i've been to a few and it looks fine. And as the article states, BB's sales have helped Apples' numbers.
Some people forget that when Apple was selling through the Wiz, Sears, and others, Apple wasn't the powerhouse it is today, and didn't have the brand recognition, nor the desirability.
The situation is very different today.
I guess you didn't read all the way through my post.
Yes, "if" they do it correctly, but this means a change in the way Wal-Mart retails. And it's a big "if." Assuming this will happen is what I would call a supposition.
I'd also reiterate another point I made earlier about how difficult it is to imagine Apple becoming the powerhouse brand it is today if they hadn't taken charge of their retail image. That's no small point, I should have thought.
my Dell mini 9 with a runcore 32 gb ssd and 2gb of RAM runs leopard faster than my core 2 duo Macbook I bought a year and a half ago, it's the Macbook whose disc drive groans like a cat in heat and that doesn't recharge the battery anymore, and whose plastic border around the screen at the bottom is starting to pop off. If anything is junk it's my Macbook.
so yeah, that changes the fact, netbooks aren't junk...unless Apple makes one and says it's different, revolutionary, will change the way you look at portable computing etc, then minimacbooks, or whatever they'll call it, will suddenly be cool to you.
I guess you didn't read all the way through my post.
Yes, "if" they do it correctly, but this means a change in the way Wal-Mart retails. And it's big "if." Assuming this will happen is what I would call a supposition.
I'd also reiterate another point I made earlier about how difficult it is to imagine Apple becoming the powerhouse brand it is today if they hadn't taken charge of their retail image. That's no small point, I should have thought.
I did read your entire post. I saw the "if". But the tone of the entire post was negative.
There was a lot of screaming here about how bad BB was too, at first, though as we can see there are still an isolated few.
I would think that if Apple and Wal-Mart are thinking of this, then it wouldn't be done willy nilly. Apple is no longer the beggar on the block. If Wal-Mart went to Apple, rather than the other way around, as it seems, then Apple is in the position of setting much, if not all of the parameters of the deal.
Even though word is that iPhone sales are not up to what was hoped, it couldn't be far behind either, or this wouldn't be happening, assuming it is of course.
Wal-Mart could be looking to Apple to give them credibility in their new endeavors. If that's so, then you can bet that they would want this to be a success.
I'm not saying that yours is a knee-jerk reaction, but we see a lot of that here. Not very well thought out exclamations of frustration with the "lowering" of Apple's image. I try not to be so elitist about it. It's just a product line. It's not a way of life.
Comments
I say... Mac mini with keyboard and mouse in the box for $589... 20" iMac with keyboard and mouse for $989, entry level MacBook for $989.
Buy out the Zune displays which have never sold well, and put it right next to the iPod and iPhone displays.
Show a working iMac under a tight plastic shield, a working MacBook... and then show the Mac mini with huge words, "Choose any Monitor or TV".
That's a recipe that would work.
When buying from Walmart, nobody expects deep knowledge on the products, they just want the lowest price. That's why the wealthy shop there even though most don't realize it...
Does it really matter where Apple sells its hardware?
Yes. Years ago Macs were sold in a lot of stores. Poor customer service, busted computers, and little to no sales effort led to Apple opening its own stores. Very few retailers--Micro Center comes to mind--do a good job of hiring Mac-specific sales staff and those stores do a good job selling Macs. Best Buy was awful before, and the customer service doesn't seem much better now, but, at least it looks good, and I saw Macs coming out of the store the 2 times I visited.
Wal-mart does not bode well--unless they do a Wii-styled display [look, don't touch].
Wal-Mart is about cheapness and leaning on suppliers until they give them the lowest price possible. Selling Macs simply doesn't make from Wal-Mart's perspective.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to sell Macs at urban Wal-Marts, but a lot of small towns have nothing but a Wal-Mart to shop at, so Apple could use this to reach people that are currently unable to see a Mac in person (without driving 100+ miles). There are a lot of small towns in America.
What does the nonsense you wrote have to do with some netbooks having 30% return rate?
About as much as your idiotic rant on Netbooks when we're trying to discus WalMArt.
Soon as I saw the headline Wal-Mart may carry Apple computers, I was waiting for all the condescending comments about Wal-Mart and its customers. This is so arrogant, frustrating and unnecessary. As long as Apple?s quality remains high, it should not matter if their products are sold at Wal-Mart. Apple should not try to only cater to snobs, but gain as much market share as possible. I?ve been an Apple fan for years and feel this type of junior high discussion alienates a lot of potential new Apple customers.
Image is everything, but a sale is a sale is a sale.
Image is everything, but a sale is a sale is a sale.
Repeat that, as your image errodes.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to sell Macs at urban Wal-Marts, but a lot of small towns have nothing but a Wal-Mart to shop at, so Apple could use this to reach people that are currently unable to see a Mac in person (without driving 100+ miles). There are a lot of small towns in America.
What percentage of Americans live in rural areas? According to the 2006 census, 80% of Canadians live in urban areas. I'm not sure if the demographic spread is similar in the U.S.
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.
Still doesn't change the fact netbooks are junk.
About as much as your idiotic rant on Netbooks when we're trying to discus WalMArt.
Well the article mentions netbooks, why don't you try reading it again dummy.
Yes. Years ago Macs were sold in a lot of stores. Poor customer service, busted computers, and little to no sales effort led to Apple opening its own stores. Very few retailers--Micro Center comes to mind--do a good job of hiring Mac-specific sales staff and those stores do a good job selling Macs. Best Buy was awful before, and the customer service doesn't seem much better now, but, at least it looks good, and I saw Macs coming out of the store the 2 times I visited.
Wal-mart does not bode well--unless they do a Wii-styled display [look, don't touch].
I'm sorry, you didn't mention crackheads or rednecks in your post. Therefore it must be ignored.
Hey fanboy- people have been saying the same thing about Windows for 25 years and what's its market share?
Less than it was.
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.
Are these the same people who don't know how to spell "owening"(sic), properly punctuate or capitalize?
It really matters. I don't see Wal-Mart changing their approach to retailing to suit Apple, which means that if they went into Wal-Mart, Apple would be trying to sell Macs alongside stacks of HP computers in a box for $399, and nobody around to explain the difference. Not that anyone goes into a Wal-Mart expecting to be helped. They go in with the hopes of finding a bargain. Unless something changes massively in Wal-Mart's approach, this is not a good retail environment for Apple.
You don't know this for a fact. It's just a supposition.
If they have the store within a store done correctly, then it will work. Even though some people are disparaging Best Buy's Mac sales, i've been to a few and it looks fine. And as the article states, BB's sales have helped Apples' numbers.
Some people forget that when Apple was selling through the Wiz, Sears, and others, Apple wasn't the powerhouse it is today, and didn't have the brand recognition, nor the desirability.
The situation is very different today.
Gee, Mr. Mooney, why in heck would you care where someone else bought their Apple system?
You've missed some good pricing. Walmart is consistently the lowest priced retailer of just about EVERYTHING. That is the only reason to shop at Walmart. Macs won't be discounted, since they never are, so I wouldn't buy one there. I'd buy at Best-buy for the 18 months interest free.
But you don't care, Mr. Mooney, (in my best Gayle Gordon voice) because "You're RICH!"
You make some good points dude .
May I add to all the people above me here who are talking about sacred apple image or low class>>> ARE YOU PEOPLE ******** !!!!!!
FIRST OFF apple makes metal and plastic boxes
urn feeling dead machines , do you fear that your sister will have sex with a red neck ???
apple will make sure there machines are displayed correctly
second ... who*******>>> in many places wall mart is the only store around and many people of wealth and class shop there .
AND even low income people are still people .And they still can afford $1500 for a laptop .
third are you guys ******* . to get mac 's and apple stuff in 2500 more stores and and on the walmart website is priceless . how stupid can you be . the poor treatment at some best buys sucks but apple is still getting exposure and apple machines still look better than dell face to face
4th people are first going online to research
and the they see what there friends have and then many consult their family members
THIS IS DONE BEFORE they show up at the ritz carlton to buy their mac .
Duh !!People are much smarter these days .
5>>> you guys are a bunch of window loving crybabies who spend all day at apple sites red faced with green envy .
i welcome wall mart
costco and sams club s next
EDIT:
Watch your language please.
So do you have proof of this mythical perception that most wal-mart customers are poor?
Not that this means they are poor but...
"The average household income of Wal-Mart shoppers is around $35,000 to $40,000, compared with $55,000 to $60,000 for those at rival Target Corp., Edwards said"
From MSNBC... http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15626611/
Average Apple consumers... not sure these days but historically, they were always significantly above average income/education level - well you'd have to be to afford one
This could be a good move to expand the franchise - most WM shoppers probably don't live near to an Apple store and might not want to go to one if they did - get them hooked on a Mac Mini or WhiteBook at their main store? An Arkansan's money is as good as anyone else's.
I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in eight years. It truly is "redneck central", and not somewhere Apple computers need to be sold.
wow, you haven't been to one in 8 years (yeah, right) but you proclaim the stores are "redneck central"? How would you know? When I go the vast majority of customers are black, asian and hispanic, are they rednecks? Redneck is just a covertly racist/elitist way to say poor people and it doesn't have any business being spouted on this board.
You may not be a fan of the way WalMart does business but if that's the case say that instead of throwing a racist term out there to try to make yourself feel better that you don't have to watch every dollar when you shop.
You don't know this for a fact. It's just a supposition.
If they have the store within a store done correctly, then it will work. Even though some people are disparaging Best Buy's Mac sales, i've been to a few and it looks fine. And as the article states, BB's sales have helped Apples' numbers.
Some people forget that when Apple was selling through the Wiz, Sears, and others, Apple wasn't the powerhouse it is today, and didn't have the brand recognition, nor the desirability.
The situation is very different today.
I guess you didn't read all the way through my post.
Yes, "if" they do it correctly, but this means a change in the way Wal-Mart retails. And it's a big "if." Assuming this will happen is what I would call a supposition.
I'd also reiterate another point I made earlier about how difficult it is to imagine Apple becoming the powerhouse brand it is today if they hadn't taken charge of their retail image. That's no small point, I should have thought.
Still doesn't change the fact netbooks are junk.
my Dell mini 9 with a runcore 32 gb ssd and 2gb of RAM runs leopard faster than my core 2 duo Macbook I bought a year and a half ago, it's the Macbook whose disc drive groans like a cat in heat and that doesn't recharge the battery anymore, and whose plastic border around the screen at the bottom is starting to pop off. If anything is junk it's my Macbook.
so yeah, that changes the fact, netbooks aren't junk...unless Apple makes one and says it's different, revolutionary, will change the way you look at portable computing etc, then minimacbooks, or whatever they'll call it, will suddenly be cool to you.
I guess you didn't read all the way through my post.
Yes, "if" they do it correctly, but this means a change in the way Wal-Mart retails. And it's big "if." Assuming this will happen is what I would call a supposition.
I'd also reiterate another point I made earlier about how difficult it is to imagine Apple becoming the powerhouse brand it is today if they hadn't taken charge of their retail image. That's no small point, I should have thought.
I did read your entire post. I saw the "if". But the tone of the entire post was negative.
There was a lot of screaming here about how bad BB was too, at first, though as we can see there are still an isolated few.
I would think that if Apple and Wal-Mart are thinking of this, then it wouldn't be done willy nilly. Apple is no longer the beggar on the block. If Wal-Mart went to Apple, rather than the other way around, as it seems, then Apple is in the position of setting much, if not all of the parameters of the deal.
Even though word is that iPhone sales are not up to what was hoped, it couldn't be far behind either, or this wouldn't be happening, assuming it is of course.
Wal-Mart could be looking to Apple to give them credibility in their new endeavors. If that's so, then you can bet that they would want this to be a success.
I'm not saying that yours is a knee-jerk reaction, but we see a lot of that here. Not very well thought out exclamations of frustration with the "lowering" of Apple's image. I try not to be so elitist about it. It's just a product line. It's not a way of life.