Radio Shack in a terse notice today said it would begin selling the iPhone 3G and 3GS in its retail stores later this month. The initial rollout is small and will be limited to certain company-run stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth area as well as in New York City. Expansion to all of its stores isn't expected until 2010.
As promised, Verizon tonight launched the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris at its primary retail store on 34th Street in New York City. The midnight opening is the first official launch in the country but follows numerous reports from those who have visited Best Buy and Walmart stores and successfully obtained the phone ahead of its official street date. Walmart Super Center stores are also typically opening sales at midnight, though the next earliest opportunity will involve the 7AM and 8AM openings at some non-mall Verizon stores.
Yesterday's leak of Walmart offering several sales on consumer electronics products has been confirmed today by the big-box electronics retailer. The one-day deals are slated to start on Saturday, November 7th at 8AM. The leaked image matches Walmart's official products down to the prices and includes an Xbox 360 Arcade gaming console coming with a $100 gift card for $199. The headline offering, according to Walmart, is a 46-inch plasma HDTV with 1080p resolution and three HDMI ports for $788.
Walmart will be selling Xbox 360 Arcade edition for $199 bundled with a $100 gift card this upcoming Saturday, Kotaku reported on Tuesday. If true, this would be the best deal for the popular gaming console to date. At the same time, the leaked inventory screen capture reveals a number of other items on sale, including a $148 Sony Blu-ray disc player and a 42-inch Sharp TV for $498.
Retail chain Walmart on Thursday said it's now offering technical support staff at its locations. The staff will come from NEW Customer Service Companies, and will be available in all US Walmart stores, launching in October and in time for the holiday shopping season. With the offering, Wal-Mart is following in the footsteps of big box electronics retailer Best Buy's Geek Squad.
The American Booksellers Association, a group that represents many independent bookstores, has submitted a letter to the US Department of Justice asking for an investigation into the pricing practices of Amazon.com, Walmart and Target. The organization is accusing the retailers of illegal predatory pricing.
Reinforcing rumors of an Xbox 360 Elite price cut, a Walmart flyer has surfaced today that shows the system's price dropping to $299. A copy of the ad sent to Engadget makes no mention of this being a temporary deal and is supported by what appears to be different packaging than the gray box the Elite uses today. It also reflects a recent change to pack-in content through the omission of the HDMI cable, which most assume is part of an attempt to lower the price.
Retailer Walmart is recalling about 1.5 million Durabrand DVD players because there is a risk for them to catch on fire. After 12 complaints, five of which resulted in a fire that caused damage to property, but no injuries, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Thursday. The device in question was imported from China and sold at Walmart stores between January of 2006 and July of 2009 for $29.
Exactly one quarter of all music sold in the US now comes from iTunes, the NPD Group said today. Its portion of the market for the first half of 2009 is up from 21 percent in 2008 and represents 69 percent of the digital-only market. By comparison, Walmart now has just 14 percent of all music while Best Buy claims third place with an unspecified amount. In digital, Amazon MP3 is a distant second with just 8 percent of the market.
Microsoft early this morning set the final launch for the Zune HD. True to leaks, the company's first touchscreen player will ship on September 15th and will come in a 16GB black version for $220 and a 32GB platinum-colored version for $290. Pre-orders start later today through Amazon (16GB, 32GB) as well as Best Buy, Walmart and Microsoft's own company store. Best Buy stores in major US cities will also have in-store previews on the 22nd and 23rd.
A leak Tuesday evening suggests Sony's new Reader devices should come in step with a price drop on the e-books themselves. Pointing only to an individual "briefed on the matter," the Wall Street Journal both confirms the pair of devices leaked earlier and says that prices on bestseller books will drop from $12 to $10, falling in line with both Amazon's Kindle Store and the Barnes & Noble store. Sony has already helped drive lower-cost books by adding Google's catalog of free, public domain titles.
Walmart on Thursday announced it will offer a notebook for less than $300 on Sunday, with the 15.6-inch Compaq Presario CQ60-419WM. Part of Walmart's early back to school sale, the notebook is powered by a 2.1GHz AMD Sempron processor and otherwise offers 3GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive preloaded with Windows Vista and a DVD burner. There is Wi-Fi capability, and an NVIDIA GeForce 8200M chipset providers graphics processing. A six-cell battery is standard fare with the CQ60.
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 smartphone got a release date at wireless provider T-Mobile on Monday thanks to a leaked promotional image. The brochure page indicated the device will launch at T-Mobile retail locations and other stores on August 5th, when it will replace the current Curve 8320. This includes Walmart, direct sales to T-Mobile or BlackBerry employees as well as customers who are eligible for upgrades.
Long-time proponent of digital rights management (DRM) protection for music files, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has finally acknowledged that DRM has become obsolete, according to a recent report from TorrentFreak. DRM prevents buyers of digital music tracks from copying them to other devices in an attempt to curb illegal copying. But now, with major music retailers abandoning the format to appease the wishes of the paying public, RIAA chief spokesman Jonathan Lamy says the protection's death is now a matter of fact.
Walmart is incorporating Apple sections into its stores as part of a major revamping program, notes Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes. The low-end retailer is significantly expanding its electronics departments, with the aim of filling the gap left in TV sales after the bankruptcy of Circuit City. Within these areas will be sections devoted to some of the most powerful brands, including those outside of TVs such as Apple and Nintendo.
Walmart is undergoing a significant expansion of its electronics section that will include the Palm Pre, the retailer says. Although recent leaks had so far only pointed to a Best Buy offering of the smartphone outside of Sprint's own stores, Walmart tells the WSJ that it expects to carry the phone "soon." Most leaks have pointed to Sprint carrying the Pre on June 7th.
The previously hinted-at T-Mobile G1 V2 may have a design much more consciously inspired by the iPhone, a follow-up leak indicates. While the first G1 has sometimes been criticized for its thick and rectangular design, the V2 found by BGR would have a much thinner, sleeker design with chrome accents and a black front not unlike its Apple rival. It would also have dedicated ringer and volume switches.
A "strong possibility" exists that AT&T will lower the cost of its base-level iPhone plan, according to Cote Collaborative's Michael Cote. The analyst cites evidence such as disappointing iPhone 3G sales through Walmart, which typically markets to poor or middle-class demographics that may not be able to justify the $69 monthly minimum for an iPhone, on top of a one-time $197 hardware cost. Once completed, the two-year AT&T contract alone costs approximately $1,880.
Amazon MP3 and Walmart weren't immune to pressure for variable song pricing and today started quietly charging higher prices for popular songs. In particular, about 10 of the top 100 songs on Amazon now meet the same $1.29 prices as similar tracks on iTunes, including recent Beyonce, Britney Spears and The Fray songs. Walmart's store, in turn, is now charging $1.24 per song for some titles and has a section dedicated to tracks at the higher price, most of which have been long-term hits rather than just recent releases.
What sounds like a frivolous lawsuit was filed in a California court at the start of this year against retail giant Walmart and online video rental company Netflix. The lawsuit alleges that, by letting Netflix take over its struggling online DVD rental business nearly four years ago, the two companies have created a monopoly and have driven Blockbuster to raise its subscription rental prices by $3 to match Netflix' pricing scheme.
Joining AT&T, which already offers a similar program, Best Buy has begun selling refurbished versions of the iPhone 3G, priced $50 less at $149 for 8GB and $249 for 16GB. The phones are ones that were returned within the first 30 days of ownership, the retailer says, and remain eligible as an upgrade option for owners of first-gen iPhones. A fresh, two-year AT&T contract is still required with a purchase.
By Jeff Valvano
Walmart has confirmed long-standing rumors, and will soon begin selling the iPhone 3G, according to an announcement. As expected, the phone will become available on December 28th from the low-end retailer, and sell in an 8GB model for $197 or a 16GB version for $297 -- in each case, just $2 less than the prices offered by Apple, AT&T and Best Buy. Shoppers will still require a two-year contract through AT&T.
Music labels should all but phase out CDs as a key source of income in as little as a year, analyst group Gartner says today in a new report. Research VP Mark McGuire argues that the shift towards direct online music downloads is now so well underway that the industry has little choice but to push the format heavily and that the market share for CDs is declining too quickly to ever properly recover. By trying to sustain the physical medium for so long, the industry has failed to give buyers a viable alternative to piracy and clung to dying technology at the same time, McGuire explains.
A day after the leak of alleged internal Walmart memo detailing its iPhone 3G launch, an image has surfaced that suggests the company has begun marketing the device ahead of schedule, according to AppleInsider. The poster appears to be wrapped around an anti-theft sensor and reads simply "iPhone 3G. Now at Walmart." The memo suggested that a pilot program would allow Wal-Mart employees to purchase the phones at 488 stores.
A leaked internal memo describes Walmart's plans for an iPhone launch later this month, a report alleges. The memo appears to validate signs that the phone will launch on December 28th, specifically at 9AM. It goes on to make mention of an earlier pilot program, however, in which some 488 stores will be given five iPhones each, to be sold only to Walmart employees; eligible workers are being picked via raffle.
Apple may be close to releasing a smaller iPhone, a case leak from China suggests. Coming from the same site that accurately leaked cases for the current iPod nano and iPod touch, the shots of an XSKN case show a device which is about 20 percent shorter than the 3G model and slightly narrower; thickness is unknown but doesn't appear substantially thicker than the iPhone 3G, with which it shares its tapered design and a likely chrome bezel. The device accordingly has a smaller home button but keeps a camera and side controls for the ringer and volume.
Although the Kaufman Bros. research group has called the prospect of a $99 iPhone "inevitable," such a price is actually unlikely in the near future, according to UBS analyst Maynard Um. Um is in particular responding to a report from the San Jose Mercury News, which cites the possibility of a $99 price and a special 4GB capacity at Walmart. There are several reasons this view should be considered improbable, says Um, beginning with the fact that the Mercury News cites only one Walmart worker as a source for the 4GB phone option.
Newer sources back the notion that Walmart will soon begin carrying the iPhone, Bloomberg reports. The news agency cites cellphone department workers at five California Walmarts, who again say that the iPhone is due by the end of December, and that sales training for it is already in progress. The exact timing of the launch remains contentious however, as while previous reports have hinted at a December 28th launch, a store representative from Yuba City says the phone will come the day before Christmas; a clerk in Stockton suggests that a launch could happen as soon as December 15th.
Apple may be prepared to deliver a sharply discounted iPhone with Walmart in mind, rumors suggest. An anonymous source has indicated that Walmart stores may soon receive a $99 model, made with the tradeoff of a lower 4GB storage capacity. Apple and AT&T currently sell the iPhone for minimum of $199, and only in capacities of 8 or 16GB. The company will likely offer a 32GB edition sometime in the next year.
Warner Music sub-label Atlantic Records today said it became the first major music company whose digital sales outpaced its conventional CDs. The group's sales of full songs, ringtones, and other content online now accounts for 51 percent of Atlantic's revenue. The label, which represents artists like Kid Rock and T.I., credits the change to spreading out where and how users can get music rather than depending heavily on a single source.
Apple is discussing deals with the three major music labels yet to sign on to iTunes Plus to remove the locks on their music as well, alleged sources tell CNET. Two reported contacts describe "preliminary" negotiations that would expand Apple's deal for music without copy protection beyond EMI and independents to include Sony, Warner and Universal. The talks are said to have been spread over the past several months for at least two labels and aren't certain to result in a favorable income.
The new date for the launch of the iPhone at Walmart has been narrowed to December 28th, information suggests. The figure comes from a leaked internal memo, obtained in response to earlier reports explaining why the phone missed a predicted November 15th shipment. Additional sources say that some 2,500 Walmart stores will carry the device, along with 69 Sam's Club locations, the latter being owned by Walmart. This will leave about approximately 1,000 Walmart stores.
The iPhone is not yet in Walmart stores, but may ship to them in December, new accounts claim. Although sources had suggested that Walmart could carry the iPhone as soon as November 15th, that date has since passed without any indication of a near-future release. New reports indicate that the launch may have been delayed, and will instead happen towards the end of December, possibly after Christmas. Managers at Walmart stores are said to have been informed of plans, in part through a memo revealing the new timeframe. A number of low-level workers may also be aware of plans.
As part of a price drop campaign it is calling Operation Main Street, Walmart on Thursday announced it will cut back prices of many popular products over the next seven weeks, in time for the holidays. The more noteworthy items include a Magnavox Blu-ray player, the NB500MG9, priced at $198, down from its regular price of $229. It is capable of upconverting standard DVD movies and will support Dolby Digital and DTS surround sound formats. A 2GB Sony Walkman MP3 player will be priced at $49.
Walmart today made an aggressive move against Amazon and Apple by lowering the prices of its MP3 Music Downloads store. The service now offers per-track downloads as low as 74 cents versus the 89-cent minimum of Amazon MP3 and iTunes' fixed 99-cent price. Normal tracks are 94 cents, Wal-Mart says. The retailer also plans to drive users to the store through a tie-in with CD sales: starting from mid-November, those who order physical copies of albums either online or in stores get a free MP3 song from any artist or album.
As Apple continues to expand the retail distribution of the iPhone 3G, a new report indicates that Walmart may be the next retailer to begin selling the quickly=growing smartphone. While previous rumors have suggested that Radio Shack may also carry the device, BGR indicates that Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, may start carrying it as soon as November 15th. Rumors that Radio Shack would begin selling the iPhone surfaced just before the iPhone 3G launch in July, and subsequent trials for Apple-like designer stores bolstered their credibility; however, the report indicates that talks with the electronics company may be faltering.
