There’s been a lot of noise for close to 2 months now that Wal-Mart Stores would start selling a 4GB iPhone for $99 soon after Christmas. Although Reuters reported in November that the deal was done, other news media were less confident and treated the news more as rumor than fact.

The latest word now, as reported by Bloomberg, is that Wal-Mart will start selling the 8GB model for $199 and the 16GB model for $299, which are the same prices as Best Buy and AT&T retail outlets.

Wal-mart selling iPhones? Connie Guglielmo, Bloomberg’s reporter, says interviews with employees in the cellphone departments at five California Wal-Mart Stores reveal the world’s-largest retailer will start selling the super-hot smartphone starting December 28.

According to Guglelmo, employees at all five stores say Wal-Mart has been training employees on how to sell the device.

Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury also reported over the weekend that Wal-Mart will start selling the iPhone at the end of December, citing rumors on Apple-related blogs and interviews with Wal-Mart store employees. The newspaper’s story was similar to Bloomberg’s.

The newspaper could not confirm with Apple or Wal-Mart officials whether Wal-Mart would be selling the $99 iPhone. One employee said she had been told by an AT&T rep to expect to carry the 4GB model as well as the other two.

Our takeaway from reading various news reports:

Will Wal-Mart sell the 8G and 16GB iPhone in December for the same prices as AT&T and Best in December? Probably.

Will Wal-Mart sell 4GB iPhone in December for $99? Probably not.

Do we know for sure one way or the other? Nope.

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category: Breaking News