November 12th, 2008
Apple to launch 'aggressive' Black Friday sale?
As Black Friday sales begin to leak on the Web, experts at Barclays Capital say they expect Apple to counter rival PC vendors’ promotions with a one-day sale more aggressive than usual, offering deep discounts on a number of Mac models.
Low cost notebooks top the list of the most heavily-discounted electronics items poised to dominate this year’s sales, with Dell planning to offer a $299 Linux model via its website, Walmart offering a $299 Compaq, and Best Buy peddling a $299 eMachines portable machine, according to analyst Ben Reitzes by way of AppleInsider’s Kasper Jade.
“We have not seen any Apple Black Friday ads yet (as is customary), but expect the company to be more aggressive than usual in its one-day sale, perhaps with $100 off a few Mac models and discounts on several iPods,” Reitzes wrote in a report.
Reitzes also called on Apple to “get more price aggressive in every product” for its traditional single-day sale, which begins at midnight on Thurs., Nov. 27, including discounts on the popular iPhone, because “the company’s high margins could likely absorb a few days of discounts,” he said.
(French iPhone carrier Orange will cut the 8GB iPhone 3G from 149 euros to 99 euros for the holidays. Could AT&T follow suit?)
Apple has offered $100 discounts on machines at $20-30 discounts on iPods in years past: Just last year, there was a $101 discount on MacBooks and iMacs and an $11 discount on third-generation iPod nanos.
Sure wouldn’t hurt the momentum gathered from Apple’s biggest back-to-school promotion in its history, which helped it set a new record for single quarter Mac shipments of 2.611 million units.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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