iPhone News Updated

Wal-Mart said a black eight-gigabyte iPhone 3G with a two-year service planfrom AT&T will cost $US197, just two dollars off the recommended price.

The black or white 16-gigabyte model will cost $US297 with a two-year AT&T service agreement.

The popular phone will be available at nearly 2,500 stores beginning on Sunday, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said in a statement.

“We are delighted to bring customers this ground-breaking mobile technology,” said Gary Severson, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president.

“Our electronics associates have been preparing for many weeks for the arrival of iPhone 3G,” he said.

Stockist expansion

Until now, the iPhone has only been available through Apple’s own stores, AT&T outlets and electronics chain Best Buy.

The Internet has been buzzing for weeks about an appearance by the iPhone in Wal-Mart stores but many had been expecting the company to offer a four-gigabyte model at a cut-rate price, even as low as $US99.

Sales of the iPhone 3G have rocketed since the touch-screen motion-sensing devices geared for high-speed wireless Internet networks hit the market in July.

According to market research firm Gartner, Apple now has 12.9 percent of the smartphone market, trailing Research in Motion’s Blackberry (15.9 percent) and Nokia (42.4 percent).

[Thanks: http://www.sbs.com.au]