Will wal-mart be successful with its plan on taking cheap mobile phones nationwide?
The already intensively competitive wireless sector today finds itself with a tough new player: Wal-Mart (WMT). The retailing giant has teamed up with American Movil (AMX) to sell low-cost service under the Straight Talk brand. The company is offering unlimited voice and text minutes for $45 a month, or 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages for $30 a month. WMT is rolling out the plans nationwide after previously testing service via 234 stores, according to Reuters. This is something of a nightmare for the pure-play pre-paid wireless companies, including MetroPCS (PCS) and :Leap Wireless (LEAP), which just a few days ago found themselves facing the prospect of AT&T (T) jumping into the pre-paid market. But it certainly seems like a good deal for AMX, which adds a powerful distribution partner. Sources: http://blogs.barrons.
Mega-discount chain Wal-Mart, along with subsidiary Sams Clubs, will join Best Buy in offering Apple’s iPhone 3G to their customers just days after Christmas, according to new reports. In an email to clients on Wednesday, JRPG Research analyst Jamie Townsend said his firm has reason to believe that Wal-Mart will begin stocking the touch-screen handset by the end of December. “We expect purchase of an iPhone will still require a two year contract with AT&T and is likely to be priced the same or less than at AT&T or Apple stores,” he wrote. The analyst, who is forecasting Apple to sell 8 million of the devices during the three-month period ending December, said the move would reinforce confidence that AT&T will be able to maintain strong new subscriber growth amid a slowdown in the consumer market. He expects Apple will be just one of several smartphone vendors that will ramp up competition in the smartphone market by discounting their excess inventories immediately following the Christm
As many of the other things Wal-mart has endeavored, we believe that wal-mart will be very succesful with taking taking cheap mobile phones nationwide. Sources: buzz.
