wal-mart

Wal-Mart fires Kindle, kicks it out of its store

Wal-Mart will no longer sell Amazon's Kindle products, highlighting the tensions between the online and physical retail worlds.

The retailing giant confirmed in an e-mail that it would no longer carry the product beyond its current inventory. Reuters earlier reported the decision.

Amazon declined to comment.

The decision to cease selling Amazon's products comes as the online retailer is eating into physical retail chains, also known as brick-and-mortar stores. With more consumers browsing in stores but making purchases online, retailers face the risk of declining sales -- an issue that has shut down companies such as Borders and … Read more

Wal-Mart offers preorders for the iPhone 5

People can preorder Apple's iPhone 5 from a handful of wireless carriers and Apple itself -- but if that proves too hectic, they can now try out Wal-Mart.

This retailer was added to the list of places earlier today where the long-awaited device can be preordered, according to Bloomberg. This is the first time that iPhone preorders have been offered through Wal-Mart.

According to Wal-Mart spokesperson Sarah Spencer, the smartphone can be ordered starting at 8 a.m. local time tomorrow in U.S. stores, Bloomberg reports. What's more, Wal-Mart will be offering discounts on the device. With … Read more

Samsung Galaxy S2 available at Wal-Mart with no annual contract

T-Mobile subscribers can now pick up a Samsung Galaxy S2 smartphone through Wal-Mart with no annual contract required.

To grab that deal, you buy the Galaxy S2 for $299 and then pair it with a T-Mobile Monthly4G plan for a minimum of $30 per month. The Monthly4G plan offers unlimited Internet access with the first 5GB of data at 4G speeds, unlimited text, and 100 minutes of talk time with a charge of 10 cents per minute beyond the first 100 minutes.

But with no annual commitment, customers are free to cancel at any time.

Wal-Mart is also selling the … Read more

Apple user data uncovered by hackers

Tuesday's tech news roundup is cracking the code:

Members of the hacker activist movement AntiSec claim they accessed an FBI agent's laptop and found the unique device identification numbers for 12 million Apple iOS devices. The group posted one million of these ID numbers online. Hackers criticized the data that these UUID numbers can reveal about a user, and called into question what the data could be used for.

These UUIDs are not the same as Apple ID email and passwords used to log into iTunes accounts. Rather, these are unique serial numbers for every Apple device, and … Read more

Wal-Mart tests iPhone app for scanning purchases

Wal-Mart is testing a new mobile payment system that will allow shoppers to use their iPhone to scan their purchases while shopping rather than having them scanned at a checkout register.

The retail giant last week invited employees with iPhones at its Rogers, Ark., supercenter to participate in a test of the system, which is called "Scan & Go," according to a survey posted at SurveyMonkey.com. Instead of scanning the items at checkout, customers could use the app to scan items as they add them to their shopping cart.

The system, which is currently unavailable to customers, … Read more

Wal-Mart: iPhone 4S price remains the same

Last updated: 10:38 a.m. PT

Attention Wal-Mart shoppers: It turns out that word of a markdown for the 16GB iPhone 4S was a mistake.

Reports, including this one, had suggested that Apple's flagship phone could be had for just $114 at some Wal-Mart stores, which would have been a healthy discount from Wal-Mart's regular price of $188. It also seemed that the 8GB iPhone 4 had received a price cut to $34, but that too was in error.

Wal-Mart now says in response to CNET's inquiry that it had run into a glitch: "Yesterday, … Read more

U.S.Cellular, Alltel launch Wal-Mart prepaid phones

U.S.Cellular and Alltel Wireless have joined up with Wal-Mart to take on the cell phone frontier of big-box retail distribution.

U.S. Cellular, a regional carrier out of Chicago, and Alltel, based in Little Rock, Ark., will begin selling select phones under the U Prepaid brand in 18 states some time in May.

U Prepaid, a pre-existing Alltel brand, will kick off at Wal-Mart with four phones: the Android-powered Samsung Repp, LG Attune/LG Exchange and LG Saber feature phones with QWERTY keyboard, and the simpler Samsung Chrono.

Customers will ride either U.S. Cellular or Alltel's … Read more

Google's Marissa Mayer asked to join Wal-Mart's board

Google Vice President Marissa Mayer may be adding Wal-Mart board director to her resume.

The vice president of Local and Maps for Google was nominated today by Wal-Mart for election at the retail giant's annual shareholder meeting on June 1 as a new board member.

Mayer, who has held her current job at Google since 2010, oversees product management and engineering for the company's various local and mobile products. Prior to that, she was the vice president for search products and user experience. She joined Google in 1999 as its first female engineer and has been credited with … Read more

HP Folio 13 ultrabook dips to $799 at Wal-Mart

A new model in Hewlett-Packard's Folio 13 series is available at Wal-Mart for $100 less than the standard HP price, making one of the most highly rated ultrabooks to date also one of the least expensive.

The online Wal-Mart price is $798, about $100 less than the standard model on HP's Web site.

Wal-Mart's SKU uses a 1.4GHz Intel Core i3-2367M processor compared to the higher-end 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M chip in the $899 model on HP's site.

Everything else is pretty much the same, including 4GB of memory and a 128GB solid state … Read more

Dozens line up for new iPad at Wal-Mart stores

Eager iPad shoppers had to wait a few hours last night for a chance to be one of the first to get their hands on Apple's new tablet.

But the earliest owners weren't those who were first to pre-order the tablet last week. And they weren't waiting outside Apple stores--they were waiting inside Wal-Mart stores, which got the jump on Apple by releasing the third-generation iPad a full eight hours before Apple stores even opened.

And if you didn't arrive early, chances are you weren't going to get one of the new tablets. At a … Read more