WalMarting: Apple and Google
May 31, 2010
ChannelWeb’s “Report: Next Apple TV Will Have No Screen, Cost $99” might be off base. Doesn’t matter. Say Apple to anyone and you hear the words “cool” and maybe “expensive”. A $99 Apple TV is a shocker because buying a case and a dongle for an Apple iPad costs that much. My thought is that Apple is happy to let Google give away products and services. But $99 is an interesting price point. Google seems to be the WalMart of online. Apple with a higher price and what may be perceived as upscale products is close enough. In my opinion, the Internet TV thing is what those who have trouble reading a book and engaging in a substantive conversation will find compelling. In the rush to the mass market, both Apple and Google seem to be practicing what I have dubbed “WalMarting”. At some point the costs become evident. For WalMart, the empty store fronts in Farmington, Illinois, are one example. There is the pressure on suppliers to get into the WalMart channel. Then there is the labor unrest. But what I think about when I hear the coinage “WalMarting” is the site People of WalMart. I wonder if that is the future of online information, products, services, and the exciting world of low cost Internet TV. If Apple embeds Bing as the default search engine, does this add substance and style to the search experience? I liked online when it was esoteric and less accessible.
Stephen E Arnold, May 31, 2010
Freebie or at least at a deep discount
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