Now this is the kind of strategy I like to see from Apple! According to BusinessWeek.com, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may start selling Apple Inc.’s iPad in 2010 in some U.S. stores. This move by Wal Mart would be designed to take away retail market share from other tech gadget device retailers such as Best Buy and even Apple’s own retail stores.
Wal Mart’s strategy with Apple devices has worked in the past and continues to work to this day with the hot selling Apple iPod and iPod Touch. However it seemed to take Wal Mart quite a long time to finally bring the iPod’s to their electronic departments.
The iPad hasn’t even been available for purchase for a month yet and already Wal Mart is moving in on the iPad frenzy to get their share of the pie. And certainly there is a lot of iPad pie to go around. Just recently Apple launched the iPad internationally after having explosive sales with both the iPad and iPad 3G here in the United States.
Wal Mart Comments on Apple iPad
“We anticipate being able to have the iPad later this year,” Gary Severson, senior vice president of entertainment for Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores, said in a telephone interview. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company isn’t prepared to provide specifics on the timing and pricing of the iPad, he said.
Apple has sold more than 1 million iPads since they went on sale in the U.S. last month, making the debut more successful than the introduction of the iPhone in 2007. Apple sells the device, a tablet computer that lets users read digital books and access the Internet, online and in its stores. Best Buy Co. also sells it.
Apple’s iPad Strategy vs the iPhone Strategy
I’m going to go ahead and make the prediction right now – Apple’s iPad is going to outsell the iPhone within 2 years and here’s why. Apple is suffocating their iPhone sales by allowing themselves to be roped into the AT&T exclusivity clause – meaning, AT&T is the only retailer that can sell the iPhone and provide data plans. And since Apple is exclusive to the AT&T with the iPhone, anyone who wants to own an iPhone has to become an AT&T customer – not the top of the “to do” list for a lot of people, especially here in the United States.
And because of Apple’s obsession with AT&T, they are suffocating iPhone sales in the US. If Apple would open up the iPhone to Verizon, Apple would immediately see a doubling of their iPhone sales.
Compare that to the iPad sales strategy that Apple is employing – sell the iPad through many retailers even here in the US. The more retailers that are selling the iPad, the more iPads will be sold – it’s really that simple.
But for some perplexing reason, Apple remains hooked on AT&T with the iPhone – it’s like there’s an obsession between Apple and AT&T.
What do you think?
Do you think WalMart is going to be a huge boost to Apple’s iPad sales and bottom line?
Do you think Apple will actually give Wal Mart a reduced price on the iPad allowing them to undercut just about every other retailer on the market?