Walmart wants in on the iPad (and is confident it will get it)

If Bentonville-based retail giant Walmart has its way, its stores could be jam-packed with iPads before the year ends. Speaking to BusinessWeek, Walmart’s senior VP of entertainment, Gary Severson, said that he believes Walmart and Apple can hammer out a deal to bring the popular tablet to stores “later this year.” Despite his confidence that a deal will be reached, Severson was reluctant to comment on pricing or speculate on a possible release time frame. One can assume Walmart would want the iPad on its shelves well before the Christmas shopping season — and perhaps more importantly Black Friday — begins. Currently only available from Apple Stores, select Best Buys and a limited number of resellers, over 1 million iPads have been sold to date. If Walmart were allowed to sell the device, it would undoubtedly accelerate sales of the tablet, especially in rural areas where authorized stores are hundreds of miles away. What say you, readers? Would you be willing to set foot in a Wally World to pick up an iPad, or do you find the notion of that repulsive?

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