Many saw no contradiction in the news last week that Target had decided to phase out Amazon.com's Kindle line while continuing to sell wireless devices made by Apple. In fact, many accepted the premise that Target's test of an Apple store-within-a-store concept at 20 of the chain's locations may have played a role in the decision.
According to a Dow Jones Newswires report, Walmart is also testing an Apple concept at a location near the company's headquarters in Arkansas with plans to add another 24. At a recent conference, Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising officer for Walmart's stores in the U.S., said the Apple shops would help "drive customer loyalty" at the retailer.
Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., saw the Walmart partnership, in particular, as being a benefit to Apple. "The true expansion of Apple's product line to untapped rural U.S. geographies would likely come in the next two years as Wal-Mart expands the Apple micro-store concept," he told Dow Jones.