Showing up fashionably late to the Black Friday deals party, Apple finally began teasing its deals for the shopping holiday in an e-mail sent out to customers Nov. 20. While other retailers are breaking their backs to provide longer, and later store hours - some staying open for 24 hours beginning Thursday - Apple, forever the Mean Girl of the tech bunch, will offer deals on iPhones, iPads, iPods, and iEverything only on Black Friday.
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True to form, Apple didn't release any information on what items will go on sale and how much the discounts might be. The shopping event will start online at 3 a.m. EST, though the company's promotional materials mentioned Apple Retail Stores will also get in on the deals. Apple will list deals on its website as they become available to consumers.
Apple also suggested buying directly from Apple's Store app on the iPhone
In 2011, CNET noted, Apple marked down iPad 2 tablets, iPods and Macs, though the company has not dropped the price of its smartphones in the past. The discounts were good, but nothing outrageous: between $41 and $61 on the iPad and up to $101 on the company's computers.
It's an interesting marketing ploy, and characteristic of the company's stark individualism; if Apple is going to play everyone else's ballgame, it's only going to do so under its own set of rules. Regardless, the tech giant's promise of a "one-day Apple shopping event," is great news for those of us who'd rather not brave the perfect storm of savings after stuffing our guts with morbid amounts of turkey.
Until Apple sent out the e-mail it wasn't clear the company was going to take part in Black Friday at all. Hardly any retailers have listed deals on any Apple products, and if they do, they're barely deals at all, which stores try to offset by offering buying incentives like gift cards and store credit.
Best Buy is one of the only places offering deals on the iPad. Although, those deals aren't much to get excited about, they appear to be the usual 10-percent off deals Apple always offers on Black Friday. The best Apple tablet deal the retailer is offering is $40-$60 of savings off full-sized iPads, both the iPad 2 and the new iPad with Retina Display.
All things considered, with iPads, and other Apple devices topping many people's holiday wish lists, every little bit the company can knock off helps. "This is, more or less, the only time that Apple offers any price cuts on its new products," notes CNET.
"Though there's no guarantee that the company will knock down the price of new gadgets such as the iPad mini," the site added.
According to research data from a study conducted by Nielsan, the iPad is the most desired product for children 6-12 in the U.S. A strong majority, 48 percent, wanted the iPad for Christmas, while 39 percent would rather have a Wii.
Other Apple products faired nearly as well: 36 percent wanted an iPod touch, 36 percent wanted an iPad mini, and 33 percent wanted an iPhone.
Readers may notice that the results add up to over 100 percent, this is because Nielsen is measuring preferences by product, rather than requesting any form of order across the list.
Children over 12 feel almost as strongly about Apple, with the iPad once again their most coveted item at 21 percent.
While the results sound Apple-heavy, Neilson also observed huge in-roads into the market by Amazon and Samsung. "Reinforcing the notion that the tablet market is the one to watch, non-Apple devices - led by Amazon's Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy offerings - proved nearly as desirable as the iPad among teens and adults, while e-readers showed a slight decline in interest from 2011," Nielson reported.