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Apple's European Black Friday Sales Go Live with Discounted Prices, Not Gift Cards

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Apple's online stores for a number of European countries have just come back online for Black Friday's one-day shopping event, and unlike in Australia and New Zealand where the company is using bonus gift cards rather than discounts as customer incentives, Apple's European stores are seeing the more traditional discounted pricing scheme.

black_friday_ipad_uk.jpg
Apple is expected to be using the gift card offer in the United States, and it is unclear why the company's European stores have stuck with discounts rather than moving to the new gift card scheme.

Examples of discounts include the following items (prices from UK store):

- iPad Air: Save £31-61
- iPad mini: Save £15 on non-Retina models, no discount on Retina models
- iPad 2: Save £25
- iPod touch: Save £25
- iPod nano: Save £11
- MacBook Air: Save £81
- MacBook Pro: Save £81 on both Retina and non-Retina models
- iMac: Save £81
- Apple TV: Save £15
- AirPort Extreme: Save £15
- AirPort Time Capsule: Save £25
- Various accessories: Discounts vary

Sales in Apple's U.S. and Canadian stores should begin at midnight Pacific Time.

Deals from third-party retailers may be even better than Apple's pricing for some customers, and we've summarized some of the best Mac and iPad deals over the past several days. We are also keeping track of deals on Apple products, accessories, software, and more in our Black Friday roundup.

Article Link: Apple's European Black Friday Sales Go Live with Discounted Prices, Not Gift Cards
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/28/apples-european-black-friday-sales-go-live-with-discounted-prices-not-gift-cards/
Less hassle than the giftcard I suppose.

Still better deals elsewhere :)

But £81 off the £2199 Macbook Pro makes me laugh.
 
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The thing I am curious about the most is whether you can get the student discount in addition to the gift card in the US.
 
With the exchange rate, I think it may be a matter of not giving odd figure cards. A euro75 card is a lot of money. They simply said screw it and did the discount for 1 day instead.
 
ob81 said:
With the exchange rate, I think it may be a matter of not giving odd figure cards. A euro75 card is a lot of money. They simply said screw it and did the discount for 1 day instead.
Click to expand...

Yeah, i guess so
 
I have 0 interest in gift cards. I don't shop at target or walmart. Too bad amazon doesn't sell idevices.


Just give me a discount, tax free sale and I'm sold:apple:
 
£51 off a £659 iPad Air 4G 64GB. Not bad for a company that never discounts, although I was hoping for a little more...
 
Thx Apple - But no thanks :) The prices in there stores here are much cheaper.

Ex. the MacBook Pro is almost 20% cheaper still without blackfriday speciel, at the normal stores in Denmark.
 
Vodka said:
What about Asia? Any discounts in Japan?
Click to expand...

Not Japan by the looks of it. Don't Apple normally do the 'goody bag' event that's popular in Japan, where you pay so much and get a bag of mystery gifts that is often of a higher cash value? (the tradeoff being you don't know what you're getting until you've paid for it and opened it)
 
Astonishing deals for those in the market for a new iPad Air or MacBook Air/Pro. Remember it's a one day event people so if you want in on this you have less than 24 hours.
 
Examples of discounts include the following items (prices not from UK store):

- iPad Air: Save 35-65€
- iPad mini: Save 21€ on non-Retina models, no discount on Retina models
- iPad 2: Save 31€
- iPod touch: Save 31€
- iPod nano: Save 11€
- MacBook Air: Save 101€
- MacBook Pro: Save 101€ on both Retina and non-Retina models
- iMac: Save 101€
- Apple TV: Save 21€
- AirPort Extreme: Save 21€
- AirPort Time Capsule: Save 31€
- Various accessories: Discounts vary
Click to expand...
Fixed.
 
Marrakas said:
Gift card is the worst kind of discount. I don't like this trend at all.
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Agree, but you can sell them on Ebay, and you get most of the value, minus ~10% Ebay fees.

Or keep the gift card until you plan on buying another Apple item in future to keep full value.

I know both are more of a pain, but generally the gift amount is a little bit higher than these EU discounts, so is some compensation.
 
Gift cards - meh

Gift cards benefit only the company. You are given an Apple Store Gift Card that is only redeemable on things you can purchase from Apple instore or online.

Whereas with a discount, you get your benefit immediately and you are free to purchase accessories at the store/outlet of your choice.

Just another one of Tim Cook's great penny-pinching ideas of keeping all the money flowing toward Apple's coffers and no one else's.
 
No deals on the iPhone. Shame. Think I'll wait and see what deals are in the shops tomorrow. I thought Black Friday was supposed to be a day of mega deals but I haven't seen anything extra special at all anywhere online.

Oh well happy thanksgiving. Enjoy your turkey and football.
 
JPSaltzman said:
Gift cards benefit only the company. You are given an Apple Store Gift Card that is only redeemable on things you can purchase from Apple instore or online.

Whereas with a discount, you get your benefit immediately and you are free to purchase accessories at the store/outlet of your choice.

Just another one of Tim Cook's great penny-pinching ideas of keeping all the money flowing toward Apple's coffers and no one else's.
Click to expand...

Of course you're right, but if you do generally buy something from Apple every 6-12 months (e.g. whenever they release something new), you can spend it then, I suppose*. :cool:

(*provided the card is valid for a decent amount of time, and doesn't expire in a month or similar short timeframe!)

It makes sense on Apple's part, as it of course makes people spend on ANOTHER item in their store – no doubt usually one that's worth more than the voucher is. It also helps Apple shift those accessories from their stock shelves, that otherwise would pile-up unshifted, as people are tempted to spend the voucher to get things for a percentage off full price.

That's business for you. Sell sell sell. ;)
 
Shaun said:
No deals on the iPhone. Shame. Think I'll wait and see what deals are in the shops tomorrow. I thought Black Friday was supposed to be a day of mega deals but I haven't seen anything extra special at all anywhere online.

Oh well happy thanksgiving. Enjoy your turkey and football.
Click to expand...

You are right about Black Friday being a day of deals. But it has never been that way with Apple products.
 
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