Apple to sell a $99 4GB iPhone at Walmart?
We just got a tip that in addition to the iPhone 3G actually making its way to Walmart, as we exclusively told you, there will be a 4GB model priced at $99 with a 2-year agreement. We’re not putting our stamp of approval behind this one just yet as the tipster isn’t listed in our BGR’s Guide to respected Ninjas handbook, but it does make you think, doesn’t it? Now, we all know Apple dropped the 4GB iPhone from its initial line-up, but that was at a $399 price-point. 4GB is certainly enough for some songs and short music videos, but let’s not kid ourselves. Anyone looking to spend $99 on an iPhone probably doesn’t care that much about storage anyway and they’ll be more than happy to drop that amount for one of the best-selling smartphones in the country. Just don’t hate us if this doesn’t happen, we warned you. Thoughts?
Thanks for the workbook pics, BC!
This is a money maker for someone, for sure! I think that since the release of the new macbooks (proprietary video again, seriously?), Apple has once again turned to a “we really only care about the bottom line” model. It may not work that well in the long run but it seems cyclical w/ Apple.
@ GMoney true
@ Pissed off Plumber You were never the guy with the iPhone because everyone has one since it’s already the new razr and was the biggest selling phone this year.
I think Walmart shoppers will buy this but at the same time I don’t see Walmart shoppers as the consumers who will drop premium pricing on their cell phone bills because of data. Apple, with their steep prices on all their products, is certainly not the walmart consumer’s favorite brand. Even if they buy it many will return it soon once they realize how much they are paying a month.
It’s funny to me how some folks on here won’t feel as special once ‘everyone’ can afford an iPhone. They are more worried about their status than looking at this as a big business move from Apple/AT&T. I do agree that it will canibalize the other AT&T phone sales inside Wal-Mart. I do not have an iPhone. I do like the iPhone. I might even purchase an iPhone, just to piss off the ‘elitists’ who think they are special just because they have an iPhone.
HAHA Loser
-that last comment was @ Pissed off Plumber
I mean seriously-if these folks want to be so ’special’…go out and buy a Vertu, or something…yeah-that’ll show ‘em!
Tsk tsk look her BG I love ur site ur one of the greatest but please don’t ever refer to the iphone as a smartphone. Sorry everyone who thinks that it is one. I really hope u guys get ur heads out of ur asses soon because the iphone should be labeled a dumphone because in no way shape or form could an iphone ever be a smartphone and I hope it never happens. And I’m not hating cuz its att cuz guess wat I work for att and I won’t even sell that garbage.time to grow up people get a blackberry make that ur 2nd smart choice 1st one would be to trash that iphone
Peace bitches
Why Walmart, Apple? Why?
Ummmm, “keeping everyone on the sideline?” So, nobody is buying an iPhone? Am I missing something? I think they are selling pretty well. Yes, I’d love a different company and better plan, but I suck it up and pay the monthly price for this “mini-computer.”
Also, why the need to be exclusive. Get the technology out to the masses. I don’t use mac products to be “cool” I buy and use mac products because they work for me. Maybe they don’t work for you. That’s okay, too.
.. had to get the 16 gig to seperate myself from everyone else… its a girl attractor to..
I don’t think it’s a bigger phone you need pal…
@ Travis EXACTLY what I was thinking. People don’t buy the iphone for its functionality (or lack thereof), they buy it to be “cool”. I’m thinking this person is even “uncooler” for saying that.
Wow, it sounds like so many people think they’re cool (or cooler) based on the stuff they buy. This is a sad commentary on the state of the average citizen’s mind. Clothes do not make the man, nor the emperor.
If you have money burning holes in your pockets, why not spend it on a new hybrid vehicle, or donate your extra cash to support a worthy cause. Make a difference, don’t just play a role.
I’d rather see Apple/ATT increase the 8GB iphone to $299 and drop the data plan to $20 or lower per month or leave it as an optional to buyers.
I would sure go for the high and low approach.
$99 4Gig / $599 64 Gig
I’ve had my 16 Gig for months! I need more memory! I need an UPGRADE, Beyonće!
If you have an Iphone simply as a status symbol, you have issues.
Come on, just because all of you early adopters bought the over priced thing to begin with, (and probably could not afford it anyway), need not to give those of us crap that waited for the technology to come down in price (which it always does). I for one am a techno nut but I don;t rush and get it when it first comes out and is way over priced. I am glad that Wally world will start carrying this, I just might want to get one now.
Glad I dumped mine and switched to a Bold. Holds 32GB and does a ton of more things for me.
I think it would be cooler to have a 1st gen iPhone now. Retro-cool and only 2 years old.
good for Apple, bad for developers.
It’s already difficult enough dealing with the cheapskate mentality of the current iPhone userbase… now we have an even cheaper iPhone sold at the cheapest discount store there is.
I can hear it now… “$0.99 for an app!!THAT’S CRAZY!!!”
If you have to you have a special phone to separate yourself from others you are a TOOL
Hence why people are switching to Sprint for better priced data plans and voice plans, as well as a much faster 3G network. (Psst. Give us a year, we’ll have 3.5G Wimax and LTE soon enough.)
@givemeabreak
I am an early adopter and i’m not sorry at all. The 1st gen iPhone is great! In fact I broke it by using a crapppy charger and went out and bought a new one to replace it! Plus, now I use that same sim card to run my 2nd gen on the cheaper rate plan. But the 1st gen phone you can do tons of stuff with and even tether to your laptop easily. Also, there is no guaruntee that Walmart will carry this, but I say lets hope they do. I would venture to say that if it is a 4gb, it will be the 1st gen phone, not the 2nd gen phone. This makes more sense and they will probably be refurbished. Great way for Apple to get rid of excess baggage and let more of the masses in on this great little phone. Get em hooked Steve! So I say @givemeabreak, go buy one, you will be very happy with a 1st gen iPhone.
I have a 4GB 1st gen and I haven’t missed the extra space. I have plenty of room for contacts, applications, photos and the most essential songs, and I use the Simplify app for access to the rest of my music collection. My library is way too big for the iPhone anyway, at least until Apple announces the 64GB phone. So would I buy a 4GB 2nd gen? Of course!
Is that why sprint has been hemorrhaging users for months now. I don’t see users going to sprint I see them leaving. Give me a break android isn’t good enough for you? You missed out on the razor because you didn’t like moto, now you’re missing out on one of the next big things because you have a problem with letting users do things for free that you want to charge them for. You’ll never have an iphone on sprint or at least not for 4 or 5 years after it’s been everywhere else.
Sorry, just a frustrated sprint user still under contract.
Should take more marketshare away from Windows Mobile and Blackberry. Staying with one basic model and selling it at a cheaper price keeping it easy for developers to love the iPhone.
With 10,757 iPhone apps in only 5 months, the iPhone is not only the fastest selling smartphone, it is the fastest for third party app development ever. The iPhone easily surpassed RIM BB on apps in one week of the App Store launching and are now on their way to beat and best Windows Mobile on apps and sales!
Symbian has now sunk under 50% share, Apple just beat Windows Mobile and all its models worldwide according to Gartner! This in less than 18 months in the industry.
Selling at Wallmart may be a great idea. Increase marketshare and keep to just one great device that will keep improving with free software updates.
They will do everything they can to get you onto an Iphone of some sort very soon. Why? Because Android is here. Granted, right now it is only on the T-Mobile G1, but it will soon be n many different types of phones.
Android is Open Source, which gives several major advantages over the proprietary Iphone. This means manufacturers can alter the code to work well with all kinds of phone devices, and anyone who wants to can develop apps for Android phones! Many of these apps will be free and open source as well. Many of the apps you pay for on the Iphone will be free. Apple needs very much to get you into a locked contract before you realize that there is something out there that is superior. Speaking of contracts, have you SEEN the contract you need to sign to get an Iphone? Do so before you sign, and research it. There are a lot of things in there you might not like.