That Happened!

New York - Prior to the 2008 Christmas shopping season it was rumored that Wal-Mart would introduce their own version of the very popular Apple iPhone 3G with the 8GB model coming in at a staggering cost of only $99 per phone.

The Christmas shopping season is the one time during the year when retailers look to make up for any lackluster sales figures during the rest of the calendar year and AT&T quickly reacted to the rumor of a $99 Wal-Mart iPhone by offering their own version of the iPhone for only $99. The difference between the Wal-Mart version and the AT&T version is that the AT&T version is a refurbished iPhone while the Wal-Mart phone was to be a brand new phone. The other difference between the two competing retailers’ ground breaking deals is that the AT&T deal actually exists where the Wal-Mart deal failed to materialize.

AT&T took what it called “slightly used or lightly used” black 3G iPhones that had been returned after the 30 day trial period offered by AT&T to anyone that purchases the 3G iPhone and remarketed them as refurbished 8GB iPhones for $99. In order to cash in on the deal the consumer was required to purchase a two year service contract which is the same deal that is offered for the brand new 8BG 3G iPhone but the new 3G is $100 more than the refurbished model. Consumers that do not mind getting a refurbished iPhone, which comes with a warranty from AT&T for 90 days, are encouraged to visit an AT&T store soon because AT&T is only offering this deal for a limited time and has only designated a finite number of 3G iPhones to be refurbished and sold. The limited nature of the offer was emphasized by AT&T when it was learned that Wal-Mart would not be offering a $99 8GB 3G iPhone as rumored.

Wal-Mart wound up offering a brand new 8GB 3G iPhone for a price that was $2 below retail which puts the units at $197.00. While this is hardly the $100 discount Wal-Mart was rumored to be offering the world’s largest retailer stills lay claim to the lowest prices anywhere on brand new 8GB 3G iPhones.

Apple would not comment on the iPhone rumors. AT&T is the only service provider for the Apple iPhone and continues to maintain a retail advantage in the number of iPhones sold into the retail market. The refurbished offer is limited so any consumer looking to save $100 on the purchase of an iPhone with a 90 day warranty should contact AT&T while supplies last.