NEW YORK - Walmart Stores Inc. may be boosting its competitive edge among electronics retailers by selling Apple??s iPad, reports Bloomberg.

"We anticipate being able to have the iPad later this year," Gary Severson, senior vice president of entertainment for Walmart??s U.S. stores, told the news source without providing specifics details on timing and pricing.

So far more than one million iPads have been sold, making its debut more successful than the iPhone in 2007. The iPad is currently available for purchase via the Internet at Apple??s online and bricks-and mortar stores and at Best Buy.

The iPad isn??t the only product Walmart is eyeing to grow its electronics department. It??s planning to add "more Internet-connected flat-panel televisions, Blu-ray disc players, mobile phones and routers enabling U.S. consumers to link gadgets in their homes," writes Bloomberg.

Walmart also will train employees to upsell. For example, "Walmart anticipates rising demand from shoppers who come to buy a flat-panel TV and then may decide to purchase a Blu-ray disc player and a router that would connect to a computer, gaming devices and the TV. At home, consumers want to be able to download movies from services" such as Netflix and Vudu Inc., which Walmart acquired in March, Bloomberg adds.

"Retailers have always been good at selling a single device," Stephen Baker, analyst at NPD Group Inc., told the news source. "But the ability to connect music, movies, games and e-mail is the long-term opportunity for them...The entire industry is moving in that direction."