Apple Launches 2011 Back to School Promotion

[Entourage12]

Getting ready to go to the Apple Store to pick up a new iMac

Quick question - is the card given to you as free or is it like the "free" iPod where you needed to pay for it upfront + taxes and wait for a rebate?

 

[excommie]

This iTunes card should be worth about $90 on ebay. Not as good as iPod touch, but for those that don't use the App store, selling on ebay might be a viable option.

 

[doboy]

After more than 30 years of using exclusively Apple products and raising my family on them, we will have to be buying 3 pcs (yecch) instead of the 3 macbook pros we had been intending to buy when Apple did its normal ipod promo. We do not need or want anything form the app store so this promo is useless to us and the competition's back to school offer is just too great. If only we could use the $100 coupon towards ipods, Apple would not be losing 3 good lifetime customers. More actually, because we all like to be compatible on our platforms and the rest of us will be migrating eventually too.

I assume those 3 good customers are eligible for this discount (student, teacher, etc).

 

[Objector]

That's their back to school? Pathetic. Students will choose or have already chosen the Xbox deal.

I really don't understand how everyone says that. You choose for an Apple product because you really like the OS and maybe the looks, so why would you buy an ugly windows laptop for school? When I take my MBP to college, I can easily take notes the whole day on one battery charge, while all the windows users need the use powerchords and extension cables after the first two hours.

Off course I would like a free xbox more than a 75€ voucher I don't really need, but that won't change my OS preference. You will be spending a lot more of your time on your computer, than on your xbox.

I have sold my desktop gaming PC and I've just ordered an iMac, with the voucher. Would I rather have had a free iPod? Well duh, but that won't change my initial preference and willingness to buy an iMac.

 

[Cougarcat]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Where exactly does it say the new MacBook Airs will qualify?

Are we taking assumptions for the truth again?

In the TOC it lists computer names, not model numbers. Also, last year's new iMac qualified.

To those thinking of buying from Amazon to avoid tax: don't forget that many states do tax-free weekends in August.

 

[FloatingBones]

For me, as an older student who will be doing intensive research and demanding a lot from my hardware, an iTunes gift card is practically useless. For grad school, I need good equipment, not music/games. A discount on an iPad would have been ideal, allowing me to use the iPad and laptop in tandem for presentations, showing others how seamlessly Apple products work together AND getting me used to using iOS and using a tablet so when I graduate, I would already have the skills to use them effectively AND it would encourage me to go out and buy the newest, latest and greatest on my own and at full price as I reenter the workforce.

Actually, it's a MAS gift certificate that just happens to work in the iTunes store.

If you have an old Mac, you probably have old software. There are plenty of titles that could help you with your research. IMHO, apps like Scrivener are far better at organizing data than any sort of word-processing app. Are you up-to-date with your iWork apps? Do you have a first-rate software calculator like PCalc? Do you already have one of the great little image-manipulation apps like Acorn or Pixelmator? All of those can be very useful for your upcoming research.

And whether you think it's fair or not, they've established certain expectations with this promotion in the past, and a huge change like this *of course* will make make people sad and angry. I don't think it's about a sense of entitlement among students, but Apple certainly doesn't help itself by keeping these things so secret and not managing expectations.

I disagree. The upset is clearly about a sense of entitlement.

I'm not one of those people who will say "I'm not getting a Mac because of this new promotion". I've been a loyal Mac user since way before many of this forum's members were born. But with the lack of incentives this year, and a competitive marketplace, I'll certainly be looking at other tablets to see if they can offer me a product at a price point that I'm able to live with.

Please consider your tablet options no matter what incentives you just got (or are about to get) from Apple. If something provides you with comparable functionality at a lower price, go for it!

I think the convergence between Lion and iOS 5 will make Macs and iPads work together far better than anything else. If you discover some alternative tablet that works well for you, I hope you'll discuss it here.

 

[tigress666]

After more than 30 years of using exclusively Apple products and raising my family on them, we will have to be buying 3 pcs (yecch) instead of the 3 macbook pros we had been intending to buy when Apple did its normal ipod promo. We do not need or want anything form the app store so this promo is useless to us and the competition's back to school offer is just too great. If only we could use the $100 coupon towards ipods, Apple would not be losing 3 good lifetime customers. More actually, because we all like to be compatible on our platforms and the rest of us will be migrating eventually too.

Really?

I hope you've been using those Macs as Windows machines so you have the windows software you will have to replace (I'm sure that software will cost under 100 dollars...)

And over 100 dollars you are going to go to PCs over the several thousand dollar computers you were going to buy? Just for that 100 dollars. Why weren't you going to PCs already if that 100 really made a difference to you. I'm sure you'd already be saving more than a 100 dollars (Even if Apple was giving you an ipod) if you just bought PCs. You could probably have bought those PCs and an ipod and have been cheaper than if you bought the macs that came with a free ipod. Why didn't you just buy PCs in the first place if this small change in promotion really was enough to tip you over?

All this says to me is either you are lying about switching over, or you use no logic when you buy since if that 100 dollar difference really made a difference to you enough to change over computer systems, you should never have bought a Mac in the first place!

 

[doboy]

Really?

I hope you've been using those Macs as Windows machines so you have the windows software you will have to replace (I'm sure that software will cost under 100 dollars...)

And over 100 dollars you are going to go to PCs over the several thousand dollar computers you were going to buy? Just for that 100 dollars. Why weren't you going to PCs already if that 100 really made a difference to you. I'm sure you'd already be saving more than a 100 dollars (Even if Apple was giving you an ipod) if you just bought PCs. You could probably have bought those PCs and an ipod and have been cheaper than if you bought the macs that came with a free ipod. Why didn't you just buy PCs in the first place if this small change in promotion really was enough to tip you over?

All this says to me is either you are lying about switching over, or you use no logic when you buy since if that 100 dollar difference really made a difference to you enough to change over computer systems, you should never have bought a Mac in the first place!

He's buying three so he wanted 3 iPods instead of $300 in gift card

 

[tigress666]

I understand this promo isn't as good as last year's, but then again, I never really found much value in them anyways. I bought my Macbook last summer from amazon instead of from the Apple store because, to me, saving on tax and the 5% off or so Amazon usually has, was greater in value than having to deal with the hassle of MIR for a product that has no purpose for someone with an iPhone already. Sure, I could resell the iPod touch they offered at the time, but IMO, it's too much hassle to come up maybe $50 ahead than if I had just bought from Amazon in the first place.

Honestly I would have too if I didn't get charged tax on Amazon (I'm local to them so we get taxed ). As it was, with tax, Amazon was equal except I got a free ipod with Apple so I went with them *shrug*.

I almost bought from some other retailer but it was some online site and it was a rebate deal (would have been better) and I'm leery on rebate deals unless I'm pretty trusting of the seller. I opted for the more sure thing but not as good deal and went with Apple.

Apple is not the only place to buy a Mac .

 

[tjmrpm04]

I stopped reading after too many whiny posts so forgive me if I am stating something that has already been stated, but damn you people are a bunch of whiny brats with an over inflated sense of entitlement. You are bitching because you are getting not only an educational discount, but you are also getting a free $100 gift card? Wow, the horror that Apple has bestowed upon you. Get over yourselves. They are a corporate entity. What makes you think they OWE you an iPod Touch? Did it occur to you that there may have been significant issues pertaining to possibly the tragedy in Japan, or the explosion at Foxxcon that could have lead to higher costs in iPod manufacturing or a shortage in iPod supplies, thus rendering it impossible to fulfill a BTS promo? Or possibly that the economy is tight anyway and they can't take a hit to their bottom line like that? As for those of you bitching about how MS is doing a better promo, well if it is so go, go join that camp. I hear that they include the ability to be bogged down with bloatware, malware, and viruses all free of charge as a feature on their OS. Enjoy that! Until then, just shut up!

 

[tigress666]

He's buying three so he wanted 3 iPods instead of $300 in gift card

And he could have bought three PCs and three ipods and still come ahead than buying 3 macs and getting three free ipods...

My point is he'd save more money in the first place by going PC so if 300 really makes that big a deal to him, why did he not just buy a PC in the first place (where he'd save a ton more money... especially when you multiply that difference by three).

 

[tigress666]

No, the students on here that are going to get a Windows system instead of a Mac are just normal people that would rather have a free xbox than some iTunes giftcard to buy a bunch of useless software, stupid ibooks, or overpriced movies and music. And try to remember, normal people aren't like you. We're not Mac zealots buying Macs just because, we just want a good computer that works and if a company provides a sweet deal, then we'll take it instead.

It's not a sweet deal though!!!

If you are buying the computer for an ipod, why not buy the PC and buy the ipod and you've still saved money over buying the mac with the free ipod!

If you are paying more for the mac, one would hope you have a strong preference for the mac cause, well, there's a big difference in price between the two. If one shiny little toy that you could afford to buy with the difference in price between computers sways you to spend more on the more expensive computer despite the fact that you (claim to) have no preference between the two computers? Well, then you need to learn some math skills, logic, and learning how to budget. Maybe that's why so many kids are in debt these days.

Buy the mac cause you want the mac. Not cause it comes with an ipod. You're foolish if you are buying it cause it comes with a shiny toy (you could easily afford that shiny toy with the cheaper computer and come out ahead monetarily).

 

[hayesk]

People Here wouldn't be complaining as much if they saw next year's promo:

"2012 Back To School Promotion: Get a free Thank You card from Steve Jobs with the purchase of $2,000 or more."

It looks something like this:

"Thanks."

- Steve

No, I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't consider the promo had any value, but I'm not a self-entitled %@ who thinks the world owes me free stuff either.

 

[freddiculous]

Yeah b&h didnt have the option I wanted... I would of bought the high end model at amazon or b&h with no tax and save lots of money but I also wanted the sandy bridge and high res antiglare option that apple only has to offer...

 

[Sniv]

First I was disappointed but if I dont think too much about how much of that Apple is actually gonna get back I'm quite happy about this offer.

I mean it's better than nothing! And I will be able to get Office on my new Mac...

 

[bigp9998]

No, I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't consider the promo had any value, but I'm not a self-entitled %@ who thinks the world owes me free stuff either.

It's not free when you have to pay $1000+ to get it! Why can't you understand that?? When Apple has done this every year for the past x years, it is effectively a price increase. Would you be happy if Apple raised their prices across the board by $200 for each computer? For students, that is what they are doing.

 

[tigress666]

It's not free when you have to pay $1000+ to get it! Why can't you understand that?? When Apple has done this every year for the past x years, it is effectively a price increase. Would you be happy if Apple raised their prices across the board by $200 for each computer? For students, that is what they are doing.

And price increases happen. You are going to find that happens as you grow older.

Hate to break it to you.

 

[apple1865]

Do people not realize that the Xbox promo will probably end up costing them more money? If you're actually going to play games on your Xbox, you need a hard drive. That's $75 right there. You need Xbox Live as well, which is another $40/year. That's $115 already and you haven't even bought any games.

 

[CommodityFetish]

When business is good and the students are buying anyway, you don't need to hard-sell with as many free extras.

Also, Apple's priorities have moved: ipod+itunes buy-in is no longer as profitable as mac+mac app store buy-in.

Apple: "Here's $100, and now we'll be taking back our $33/30% off the top."

 

[daibachin]

This really is a terrible offer... I feel very lucky I got my imac last year and feel sorry for those who have waited for months for this promotion... both my cousine and my bro's first reaction was like "wtf..." um... I dun understand why ppls can still say it's a very good deal blah blah... in terms of money value, the stuffs that you get is less that last year.. this is an undeniable fact (can u get an ipod touch w/ $100?). Not to say this generation ipod touch is so much better.. with camera and the retina display... And for that $100 coupon.. what makes it so terrible is u can only use it to get mac app... to be honest.. it's not much use to me.. I believe not much to many ppls.. it'd be nice to be just a cash coupon for anything in the mac store.. at least I could spend it on a new ipod, headphone, speakers, software... wutever... It also benefit Apple itself since it may increase the sales volume (as many things r way more than $100). Everyone happy too

 

[bigp9998]

And price increases happen. You are going to find that happens as you grow older.

Hate to break it to you.

I understand that and even expect that, but suggesting that we should not be disappointed by it is ridiculous. Would you blindly hand over your credit card no matter what the price?

Oh and while we're at it, please skip the patronizing tone.

 

[tjmrpm04]

It's not free when you have to pay $1000+ to get it! Why can't you understand that?? When Apple has done this every year for the past x years, it is effectively a price increase. Would you be happy if Apple raised their prices across the board by $200 for each computer? For students, that is what they are doing.

1. You do not have to pay $1000 for anything. No one is forcing you to purchase this.

2. Just because Apple has done this in the past does not obligate them in the future. They sold Newtons in the past, are you going to gripe that they wont sell you one now?

3. They did not raise their price on their computers for students. You are actually STILL getting your educational discount.

4. They owe you no promo at all. So the fact that they are doing a $100 gift card is a bonus.

5. Why can't YOU understand the above?


ETA: On behalf of Tigress, I am going to insist that all future replies to your post contain a patronizing tone since your questions of "Why can't you understand this?" began the tone. Now please let your mom get back on the computer and go out and play in the yard.

 

[syedhussain]

Not yet shipped
Product / Part No.
Unit Price

Qty

Ext. Price
ITS GC MAC APPS EDU 100USD AOS-USA
MD181LL/A

$100.00

1

$100.00
Ships: Within 1 day of Mac Shipping

MBP 13.3/2.7/2X2GB/500/SD-USA
MC724LL/A

$1,399.00

1

$1,399.00


Ships: within 24 hours
Delivers: Jun 20 - Jun 21

EPSON NX420 ALL IN ONE WIRELESS-USA
H1411LL/A

$99.95

1

$99.95


Ships: within 24 hours
Delivers: Jun 20 - Jun 21

Promotion Savings: -$100.00
SubTotal: $1,498.95
Tax: $83.94
Shipping Charge: $0.00
Total: $1,582.89


finally on that mac status!

 

[bigp9998]

So this is what they are using the extra $$ on...

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...les_iconic_fifth_ave_glass_cube_underway.html

 

[2jaded2care]

.. And whether you think it's fair or not, they've established certain expectations with this promotion in the past, and a huge change like this *of course* will make make people sad and angry. I don't think it's about a sense of entitlement among students, but Apple certainly doesn't help itself by keeping these things so secret and not managing expectations.

I disagree. The upset is clearly about a sense of entitlement.

I agree with indiebass, Apple kind of set a precedent with the free Touch offers previously, and this is a letdown. It's as if a relative regularly gave you $250 for your birthday, and this year they gave you $100. You realize you're not really "entitled" to anything, but you have to wonder, what's up with that? (No reason to get angry, though, that is a sense of entitlement.)

Plus, many previous customers would upgrade from the base model Touch, which also meant $$ for Apple. Personally, I think they should have offered a choice, either the low-end Touch, or a gift card for somewhat more, to encourage people to spend on apps. But then again, it's not my money to give away...

Just my 2¢.