The world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., will become the second mass-market retail chain – after Best Buy Co. - to start selling the Apple iPhone 3G. It has been telephonically confirmed by five Wal-Mart store representatives that the iPhone will be on sale by the end of December, and analysts believe one model will be a 4GB version for only $99.

The San Jose Mercury News reported the Wal-Mart deal yesterday, citing its own interviews with Wal-Mart employees.

Apple currently sells the cheapest iPhone at $199 and a more expensive one at $299. Hence, if it works out, a new version at $99 will be a great deal for Walmart! According to sources, employees are currently being trained on how to sell the devices, as the store may have them in stock the day before Christmas.

Steve Jobs, Apple Chief Executive Officer, tapped Best Buy Co., the largest US electronics retailer, in September, to sell the device with the aim to win more buyers. Till that time, the iPhone had been sold only by Apple and AT&T Inc., the exclusive provider of wireless service for the phone in the US.

Apple, AT&T and Best Buy are currently selling 8-gigabyte and 16- gigabyte models of the iPhone, which combines a handset with Apple’s iPod digital media player. The company stopped selling a 4- gigabyte model in September 2007, after Jobs said customers preferred versions with larger storage capacity.

Shaw Wu, an analyst for Kaufman Brothers in San Francisco, said in a note on December 5: “A $99, Apple-branded cell phone is inevitable. One of the key things Apple needs to do to drive broader iPhone adoption is to build a more complete product line, with low- end, mid-range and high-end products.”