Apple, Walmart to do $99 4GB iPhone?

Look, we know you've been holding out for the iPhone to hit Walmart before you pick it up, sandwiched between the fishing gear and row upon row of exercise videos -- and we don't blame you. You'll ride your shopping cart down the wide aisles like a chariot, and when you get home with the phone you'll dial up all your friends and let them know how much cheaper your iPhone was than theirs. What was that? Yeah, the new word on the street is that Walmart is getting a 4GB iPhone 3G for a mere $99, according to Boy Genius Report, and while BGR was previously reporting a November 15th launch date at Walmart, and can't vouch for the accuracy of this new report, Walmart training materials (pictured above) have been seen in the wild, so there's a grain of truth to this madness somewhere. Plus, a $99 iPhone just sounds so Walmart-ey, doesn't it?

[Via Mac Rumors]

[kyphros Posted Dec 4th 2008 1:55PM]

Makes sense, Walmart sells cheap plastic crap, so a perfect venue for this product.

[UnixSystemsEngineer Posted Dec 4th 2008 2:31PM]

Good thing the iPhone is the only plastic phone on the market, or wally world would be selling all kinds of phones!

[switcheasy Posted Dec 4th 2008 4:20PM]

kyphros is a f++kin idiot. he just cant afford an iphone even with the 99 price tag.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2008 3:55PM]

I'm the one that submitted the picture originally to MacRumors. I took it on my iPhone. I'm gonna try to get more pics from a fellow associate. But let this be known:

- NO 4GB iPhone (or iPhone 3G) mentioned in the manuals.
- NO discounted price. MAYBE $198.88.
- $30 or $45 (Enterprise) Data Plan required.
- NO Pay 2 Go.
- The models in the manuals only showed the 2 black and 1 white model, so they're nothing new.
- Activation will be in-store. The iPhone will be unique for Walmart because it will require tethering it to our kiosks and using a POS.com server to connect to Apple for iTunes activation. I don't really know how this will work because it hasn't been demonstrated.

Launch will be December 28.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2008 5:08PM]

"NO 4GB iPhone (or iPhone 3G) mentioned in the manuals."

So what's the giant "iPhone 3G" on the top of the page?

Also, what's the likelihood that they'd still be using manual "Version 1.0" five months later?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2008 5:30PM]

"NO 4GB iPhone (or iPhone 3G)"

Let me break it down for you...

NO 4GB iPhone
NO 4GB iPhone 3G.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2008 4:23PM]

thats a good deal. I paid $199 for my 8gig and I have 400 songs and a Ton of apps and I still have 6 gigs available. I think to save $100 I would have gotten the 4 gig as it is MORE than enough!

jess
www.anonweb.eu.tc

[BdgBill1 Posted Dec 4th 2008 5:10PM]

Ha! This is great. I wonder if the iPhone will still be the talisman of every hipster doofus when Maw and Cletus are pickin em up down to the WalMart.

[aeromat Posted Dec 4th 2008 7:12PM]

$99 is not Wal-Marty. $98.74 is.

[markntravis Posted Dec 4th 2008 7:39PM]

Where is there a Walmart with wide isles?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 4th 2008 9:15PM]

the atlanticapitalist ocean

[jupiterthunder Posted Dec 5th 2008 11:35PM]

this sounded believable until they implied that Walmart trains people :)

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 5th 2008 1:04AM]

PLEASE!!! STOP THIS MADNESS!!! MY MOUTH AND JAW ARE BECOMING SORE FROM GIVING ALL THE APPLE FANBOYS AND COMPANY EXEC'S BLOW JOBS TO KEEP APPLE ON TOP!!! I'VE REACHED MY LIMIT!!! PLEASE, NO MORE, I CAN'T PLEASE ALL OF YOU, OR 6 BILLION PEOPLE FOR THAT MATTER!!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 5th 2008 12:26AM]

It doesn't matter to who sells the phone or how much it costs. They could be giving away they phone for free with a two year contract, but I refuse to use at&t. Everyone I know (read: everyone I know in my area) who has at&t hates it. Call quality is bad, and calls are constantly lost. Congratulations to those who love at&t and get great service, but that's not the case for me.

Secondly, the data plan is absurd. I think Verizon's data plan is ridiculous, too. I'm only without WiFi when I'm in my car, so I don't need a data plan. I think all phone companies overcharge for what they provide. Until consumers can cause them to hurt because of it, it is not going to improve. Shame on the phone companies, and shame on consumers.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 5th 2008 8:58AM]

Calling out a phony.
The Walmart typeface isn't right.
Looks like it's been read through but those hi lighters are still in the package!!?!~!

[jmmoore Posted Dec 5th 2008 8:22AM]

A $99 iphone is possible. A two year contract with ATT cost an iphone user $1679 minimum if they opt for the $69.99 a month plan. Thats alot of revenue. Currently ATT pays apple $432 dollars per or $18 dollars a month for each iphone sold through an apple store. Att kicks around $350 to apple if sold through their store. Figure ATT profits from about $1130 to $1247 per iphone. Thats a heck of a profit for both ATT and Apple. Walmart would fall under a similar deal that Best Buy does now. The estimated wholesale that Bestbuy is buying the 8gb for is $550 and selling them for $199 and then getting a estimated $350-$400 dollar kick back from ATT. Thats only a $0 to $50 dollar profit, but Best Buy ends up selling more accessories from the buyer who buys in their store. If a 4gb iphone wholesale to Walmart ends up costing Walmart $450, they sell it for $99 and then they receive the same $350-$400 kick back from ATT they too would be only profiting $0 to $50 per iphone, but surely the masses getting them and all the accessories there in store during purchase and they are sure to make a good profit making it possible for a $99 iphone.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 5th 2008 1:36PM]

This could be a counter move since Kogan Technologies will be releasing their phone worldwide? And that phone could be $70-90 coupled with a carrier plan if a carrier in the US picks it up.

[GenesisDH Posted Dec 5th 2008 5:01PM]

I was just looking over the posted specs of the Agora Pro phone yesterday... nice, very nice. Android phone for the price listed as sans-subsidy... very nice.

Across BGR, HoFo, and ModMyi, I have mentioned that the 4GB rumor isn't likely to happen. The sales at Wal-Mart iPhones starting Dec. 28th appears true from my info, but the 4GB rumor seems completely off-base.
Why sell a new submodel only at Wal-Mart?
Why sell after Christmas this low when they could do so now and still keep sales flowing even after Christmas? (really though, this economy is going to kill post-X-Mas consumer spending)
Why offer more complications for Apple/AT&T/etc by having a third/forth submodel?
Why buy up a batch of increasingly-obsolete 4GB chips just for a lower-priced submodel iPhone? Doesn't sound Apple-like to me.

That said, I expect Wal-Mart will get more revenue from iPhone accessory sales than iPhone activations, even if there is no $99 submodel. They already do to some extent; they've been offering iPhone-compatible headsets and accessories for months now.

@Matt,
AT&T itself doesn't profit 1000+ dollars per phone, economics will tell you that. Employees, tower equipment, utilities (towers use more energy in a day than you can think of), storage, rent, vehicles, agent/rep commissions (dealers get fairly good commission/activation), and much more eat into that revenue margin. Why did you think that AT&T said [w.r.t. the iPhone 3G announcement] it would be lowering quarterly profit expectations through next year? Or why are they laying off 4% of its workforce in coming weeks? Really now... :rolls eyes:

[neoand12 Posted Dec 7th 2008 12:25PM]

Don't be cheap this is a best deal for an iPhone...I hate walmart as much as the next man but with a Deal like this I can't past. its ether this or the Hiphone/ciPhone. and we all know how we feel about cheap Chinese knock offs. so be happy that this [rumor] might be true. I know I am apps already have me sold.

[popsd23 Posted Dec 14th 2008 1:48AM]

$99 iPhone secures the Smartphone market for 2 years (contract) with 30 million selling....why not sell the whole range, $99/$197/$299/$399....will kill all others, buys them time, while they are working on the next big thing

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 14th 2008 10:55AM]

It launches at Wal-Mart on December 28th and will require at least the $30 data plan in order for them to sell it to you.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2008 2:03PM]

What do you lose out on having 4GB memory versus 8GB (I'm looking at a 2GB thumb drive and never get close to filling it up) - less iphone photo storage, less space to download apps, do people fill up these phones and if so with what?

[crearc Posted Mar 2nd 2009 10:57PM]

now if only they would make the iTouch that cheap....hmmmm....