iLounge

In its continuing effort to expand iPad distribution ahead of the holiday shopping season, Apple has secured a place for the iPad on the shelves of select Walmart stores. Citing an internal Walmart email, Mac Rumors reports that through the end of October, Walmart will be rolling the iPad out to approximately 1,000 stores, with plans to expand iPad sales to another 800 locations in November. The email suggests that Walmart will offer all six models of the iPad, with initial inventory to be limited to five units for the store to which the email was sent. Not long after publishing the initial email screenshots, a photo showing an iPad for sale on the shelves of a Denver, Colorado Walmart was added to the report, indicating that the company’s roll out of the tablet has already begun. In recent weeks, Apple has increased the number of retail outlets carrying the tablet computer by expanding iPad sales to all U.S. Best Buy stores and by rolling the device out at Target stores.

Update: Walmart has confirmed that it will offer all six models of the iPad in hundreds of its stores beginning on Friday, Oct. 15, and will expand to 2,300 stores in November. In addition, Walmart.com will sell the iPad through its Site to Store service, which provides free shipping of online orders to a local Walmart store.