Mercilessly squashing any vestiges of what rumors remained of a $99 iPhone [1], the megamall-master Walmart today let the world know that, yes, they will be offering the Jesus Phone to the world beginning on Sunday, but no, they won't be adding a $99 super-savior to the mix.

Yawn...

Walmart will sell the ubiquitous black 8GB iPhone for $197, and the 16GB unit in either black or white for $297. The service agreement will be the same old, same old: two years with AT&T.

All this 'Phoney foreplay, and all we get is a savings of two measley bucks? Merry %$#@!ing Christmas, Sam Walton [3].

Maybe it's now time to start another unsubstantiated rumor. How about that the much-reported iPhone nano [4] is actually the $99 iPhone? That speculation should have sufficient legs to last until Phil Schiller's appearance [5] on January 6th at Macworld Expo [6], don't you think?

One final note on this sad saga of dashed dreams: Computerworld - when reporting [7] on l'affaire Walmart - said that the middle-American retailer "is expected to help Apple's efforts to reach conservative shoppers."

What, don't progressives, libertarians, and Greens also want to "Save money" and "Live better"?

Links

1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/04/wal_mart_4gb_iphone/
2. http://skippythorson.blogspot.com/2008/12/ad-pictures-3g.html
3. http://www.woopidoo.com/biography/sam-walton/
4. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/22/case_maker_fans_iphone_nano_rumors.html
5. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/16/jobs_and_apple_out_of_macworld/
6. http://www.macworldexpo.com/
7. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=knowledge_center&articleId=9124380&taxonomyId=1&intsrc=kc_top

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