AT&T (T) +0.40%, Wal-Mart (WMT) -0.16%
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) will start selling Apple’s iPhone on December 28 in almost 2,500 U.S. stores to bolster its offering of consumer electronics. A partnership with Wal-Mart brings the iPhone to the world’s biggest retailer, building on a deal Apple made in September with Best Buy, the largest U.S. electronics chain.
Wal-Mart’s customers can be seen as the average American, and it appears that Apple hopes Wal-Mart will help the iPhone go mainstream. While it is highly unlikely that the iPhone will control the market the way iPods control the MP3 player market, Apple will likely see its smartphone marketshare grow.
AT&T should reap the benefits of new customers buying iPhones, and thus switching to their network. Increasing the number of current customers using smartphones would provide AT&T with a boost since smartphone customers tend to have higher monthly bills.
By carrying the iPhone Wal-Mart continues to build its reputation as a consumer-electronics destination. The company’s 3,000 U.S. supercenters and discount stores have improved displays and given more space to Sony Corp. flat-panel televisions, Dell Inc. laptops and other electronics in the past year to spur sales.
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) +0.48%
Lilly signed a $497 million licensing and development agreement for BioMS’s dirucotide, potentially the first treatment for advanced forms of multiple sclerosis to come to market.
Lilly faces the possible loss of more than half of last year’s revenue when patents on its top-selling drugs – Zyprexa, Cymbalta, Gemzar and Humalog – expire by 2013.
In mid-2009, BioMS will hand off dirucotide to Lilly so it can complete clinical testing and eventually sell the product. At any time during testing, Lilly can break its agreement with BioMS, which has no other drug in its pipeline.
Quick Hits
- Pawn Shops Lead China Small-Business Loans as Bank Credit Wanes (Ok FCFS, time to go to China)
- Rail Takes Back Seat as States Target Obama Stimulus for Roads (St. Louis is the article’s first example)
Peter Lazaroff, Junior Analyst
No comments:
Post a Comment