Imagine the typical shopping experience of roaming the store and then congregating at the front to check out as a thing of the past, instead being replaced by the very devices we’ve come to be dependent on each and every day — phones. We’re still working on getting all the details, but we’ve been tipped by a higher ranking ex-employee about an awesome change coming to Walmart shopping centers that is simply too cool to keep to ourselves that builds on Walmart’s own official announcement and this TechCrunch article from within the last week.

As the linked articles above touch on, Walmart shoppers will have some new tools at their disposal when shopping in-store. First, they’ll be able to create shopping lists by voice as well as scan coupons and QR codes. Building on that, our source says that sometime within the near future Walmart shoppers will be able to use their phone to scan items they wish to purchase. At the end of their shopping trip the scanned items can be turned into a simple QR code that can then be scanned by the person at the checkout lane.

Finally, customers will be able to pre-compile a shopping list at Walmart.com, save it to their phone, and use the pre-compiled shopping list + mobile app to literally be “guide through the store”.

The separate iPad app features all of the above plus the ability to check inventory on Walmart.com. The iPad app, mind you, is gorgeous as seen in this TechCrunch post from a few days back.

The mobile app/technological initiative reportedly stems from the Walmart/Oracle partnership of 2008, which if anything, shows just how long this new development has been in the oven.

We’re still working on getting the full story, include supported mobile platforms, US/global availability, timeline for release, as well as what jobs will be affected (We’re hearing there will certainly be some cuts.)

Stay tuned as we keep digging…

Thanks, Woo