Apple Gets Ready for Holiday Shopping
Apple is revealing some of its holiday plans already, starting with extended hours at most Apple retail stores. While each store can set its own operating hours, most are likely to start extending their operational hours until 10 or 11 pm, starting on Black Friday (November 28) and ending on Christmas Eve. If you still need an Apple product on Christmas Day, and you’re up for a road trip, the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City is open year-round.
Courtesy of Apple
Apple has also posted a Black Friday teaser that promises a special one-day-only holiday shopping event that will include iPods, iPhones, and Mac gift ideas.
In the past, Apple hasn’t been a big player in the Black Friday shopping phenomenon, choosing to instead offer token price cuts. This year, however, we’re likely to see a much larger and more aggressive assault by Apple on Black Friday. I expect both the online and retail Apple stores to unveil some surprisingly good deals.
What we don’t know yet is just how big these deals will be. For example, will a sales price on a MacBook Pro be good all day or just for the first 500 sold? Will iPhone deals include service plan discounts from AT&T or be limited to the phone itself?
We won’t know until the day after Thanksgiving here in the U.S., so keep checking back here and at the Apple store for Black Friday deals.
Comments
Apple has never participated in the Black Friday “door buster” sales at its retail stores, limited to the first 500 persons, etc. Instead, they have offered a set discount on a few products for that one day. Sometimes there have been bundles (computer+printer) in effect over the entire holiday season. But don’t bet on anything too extraordinary–Apple’s philosophy is to keep margins high and not to lower the brand into the “discount” fray.