Leave It To Wal-Mart: New iPhones Already Discounted

Incredible marketing. They are learning from the JC Penney debacle. Low-information folks (as Rush Limbaugh calls them); typical Wal-Mart shoppers; my wife; and, me -- all of us -- we love sales. So, you're thinking of a cheap smart phone. You hear all this "crap" about the iPhone. You have to have an iPhone. But folks say they are too expensive. At least that's what NBC is saying all day long. Too expensive. What gives? You walk into Wal-Mart planning to buy a $5.00 DVD next to the electronics section. You glance over at the Apple Display. Big sign: "Sale."

Way back in the recesses of your mind you recall all that "crap" about the iPhone and how expensive they are and it's out of reach. But hey, it's on sale. $79. "Our monthly cable bill is twice that." And, hey, once I pay the $79, it's paid for.

Hey, it's on sale.

The pitch, the announcement, the presentation was two days ago. Companies have to be fast these days, and Apple is one of the fastest, but even Apple can't be this fast.

Surely, some Wal-Mart clerk stocking shelves Tuesday at midnight, didn't call the overnight secretary at 4 Infinity Loop to suggest a sales price for the 5C. And by Wednesday noon, the suggestion reached Tim Cook, and by Wednesday afternoon, Apple made the decision. Sure, Wal-Mart, go ahead and offer a discount. It's only our reputation that could be hurt.

This was all thought out over the past six months: price it at $99 on Tuesday and then let Wal-Mart put them on sale Thursday. See what happens. JC Penney proved that folks like sales, and they like coupons. They don't like up-front every day "low" pricing. (And you all recall, the recently sacked JC Penney CEO was a former Apple marketing guru.)

Yahoo!Finance is reporting:

In what might be an unprecedented move by Apple Inc., the company apparently has agreed to permit Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to sell the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S at discount prices. The 5C, which carries a list price of $99, will sell for $79, and the 5S will sell for $189, compared with the list price of $199.

Apple surely will receive its full selling price from Walmart, so revenues will not be affected, but the optics are unusual to say the least. Discounting a new product just two days after it has been introduced is new ground for Apple, at least in our memory. Why would the company do this?

It is no secret that the new iPhones have been greeted with a lukewarm reception at best, and perhaps Apple is angling to bump up sales numbers by letting Walmart discount the phones immediately. If consumers believe there is a stampede for the new phones, well, maybe they will create one.

More likely, Apple is running a trial.

Repeating:

The pitch, the announcement, the presentation was two days ago. Companies have to be fast these days, and Apple is one of the fastest, but even Apple can't be this fast.

Surely, some Wal-Mart clerk stocking shelves Tuesday at midnight, didn't call the overnight secretary at 4 Infinity Loop to suggest a sales price for the 5C. And by Wednesday noon, the suggestion reached Tim Cook, and by Wednesday afternoon, Apple made the decision. Sure, Wal-Mart, go ahead and offer a discount. It's only our reputation that could be hurt.

No one can move that fast.

Oh, one exception. Three-plus years of chemical weapons and threats of retribution in Syria, and no breakthrough. Then a comedian, Al Brooks, makes an outlandish suggestion. John Kerry gaffes the suggestion in an off-hand remark; the White House tries to walk it back; Vladimir grabs it and by the next morning it's the "new" American policy. That evening Mr O'Bama goes on television to tell Americans that was his plan all along.

So, I guess it could have been a Wal-Mart $8/hour employee who called Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, floated the idea, and the rest is, as they say, history.

LOL.