$99 iPhone deal changes hands

I'd previously posted that Walmart was going to start selling a 4GB iPhone for $99. Not happening, anymore.

Walmart won't have the $99 iPhone. Now, the iPhone deal will come directly through AT&T. And it's not such a deal, afterall. AT&T will sell refurbished 8GB phones for $99, with a 2 year AT&T contract ... until they run out of stock. AT&T defines refurbished as "previously owned devices that have been unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period."

AT&T will also sell a 16GB iPhone for $199. This will also be available only until AT&T runs out of stock.

Walmart's iPhone deal is - $197 for the 8GB iPhone, with a 2 year AT&T contract. That's only $2 cheaper than what AT&T offers its customers. In doing so, Walmart joins a short list of iPhone official retail outlets, which also includes Apple stores, and Best Buy.

source: AT&T Steals Walmart's IPhone Thunder: The Carrier, Not the Retailer, Is Selling the Handset for $99, Advertising Age, By Rita Chang, December 29, 2008

Implications of a $99 iPhone

The current iPhone is 8GB, and $199, plus a 2-year AT&T contract. The newest version of the iPhone is 4GB, and $99 ... at Walmart.

This makes sense --

A recent ComScore study showed that even though 43% of iPhone owners earn $100,000+ annually, iPhone adoption since June 2008 grew 48% among those earning $25,000 - $50,000 annually, and 46% among those earning $25,000 - $75,000 annually.

Advertising Age suggests that the halo effect is important, here - what the iPhone can do for Apple computer sales, and what it can do for Walmart.

(Walmart declined to comment. But to be sure, the retailer saw what the iPhone did for the AT&T brand. "It has made [AT&T] hipper and relevant, so you could easily see that Walmart is hoping for the same thing, to get some cachet into its brand. It's not the coolest place in the world to go shopping. If they can infuse some youth and energy [with] the iPhone, it's a great idea," said Karl Barnhart, a partner at CoreBrand.)

source: Walmart is Set to Sell a $99 iPhone: Experts Say Mass Distribution Won't Tarnish Upscale Brand, by Rita Chang, 12/8/08, Advertising Age.

Even more interesting, is what this will mean for marketers who are looking to include handheld devices in their advertising campaigns, and for start up's who design (and sell) iPhone applications ... nevermind, what will happen to old cell phones. Ah, the implications of a world full of iPhones!! So interesting!

Check out this video from CBS - Jim Puckett and Scott Pelley walk through Guiyu, China. The town has developed into a dumping ground for toxic e-waste.