Wal-Mart rivalling Apple with online movie store?

This weekend is rife with interesting speculation -- newsmongers with more time on their hands now that kids are back in school? -- and one of the most well-researched and interesting: the rumor that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is set to offer music via an online store. I think we can all agree no one's "killing" Netflix, or the newly-announced iTunes movie store. It's interesting nonetheless that the conservative retail giant would invest in digital media; a move that seems as far as humanly possible from its traditional consumer base: the blue-collar, the conservative, the not-digital.

One could certainly argue that Wal-Mart could bring to digital media what it brings to everything it offers. Low prices. Efficient distribution (although how you can get more efficient in distributing digital media, I don't know). The wider audience of its millions of customers. And maybe the retail giant's considerable clout in the entertainment industry is being threatened by Apple and Microsoft, and that's what this is really about.

I love, however, the way this news was ferreted out: someone saw a job listing for a business manager of a new digital video category. The manager will need to "innovate cross-channel strategies and product offerings," and maybe that's the answer: this super-manager will be asked to develop a great way to get Wal-Mart shoppers to buy movies (and music) in the stores, perhaps when they're buying their MP3 players. And their toiletries.