The US back to school promotion’s done, but its equivalent has now fired up in the UK. Brits can now grab Apple laptops or iMacs, an iPod nano or iPod touch, and then get a rebate of up to £95 (which doesn’t actually cover the cost of even the cheapest iPod on offer, but still).
The most interesting part about this is the offer’s closing date: the spooktastic October 31. It’s pretty rare for Apple to start shipping new Macs when this kind of promotion is still running (although it does sometimes happen), so does this mean we now won’t be seeing new Mac laptops and iMacs until November? Or are British students just getting ‘encouraged’ to clear Apple’s UK inventory, readying the company for its autumn/fall assult?
Update: other European Apple Stores are also running similar offers—this isn’t just specific to the UK.
2 responses to “UK back to school promotion a sign of later Mac laptop updates?”
I bought my (ancient) PowerBook Ti in August ’03 (with a “free” iPod), knowing full well that an update was coming, but I couldn’t wait for it. The Aluminum model came out in September, before the end of the promotion. The iPod promo wasn’t just about clearing out old stock, it was aimed at getting students to switch.
Dell can offer a rebate/giveaway and they’ll steal a customer from Lenovo. But in 2 or 3 years they have to give them something else to keep them. Apple gives away 40 bucks worth of hardware once and they’ve got a customer for life. Dell isn’t going to get anybody to switch back for a free MP3 player or printer.