Following Thanksgiving as it does, Black Friday — and it’s smaller and more stupidly named sister “holiday.” Cyber Monday — is generally an America-only affair, but not if you shop directly from Apple, who are now teasing their November 26th “one-day Apple shopping event” both domestically and internationally.
TJ Maxx and Marshall’s are selling a limited number of iPads for $100 off their retail price at random outlets this Black Friday weekend, but as Steve Jobs made abundantly clear in an e-mail yesterday, they’re not an authorized reseller.
Where’d TJ Maxx get all the iPads then? Easy. They might not be an official reseller, but that hasn’t stopped them from buying from one… or reselling those iPads at a loss.
Black Friday is this week and it will mark the beginning of the 2010 holiday shopping season in the U.S. Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Black Friday.
I’m not exactly excited about braving the crowds for holiday bargains. So I’ll be using my iPhone or iPad and any of the free apps below to help me shop from wherever I happen to be.
Deals on Apple products tend to be depressingly meager when you’re buying new, as I discovered yesterday when I did some price comparisons on the new 11.6-inch MacBook Air, only to discover the most aggressive deal I could find on the laptop was a whole five dollars off the retail price. Yet that’s all too typical: Apple products tend not to dip dramatically lower than their MSRP unless they are either refurbished or subsidized by a carrier.
Consider our jaws dropped, then, by the biggest deal on a current-gen Apple product we’ve ever seen. TJ Maxx — TJ Maxx, of all places! — is offering the iPad in at least some stores for a cool benjamin off the regular price.
Microsoft’s official Office for the Mac blog has announced a list of places where you can buy Office for Mac 2011 at discounted prices during Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. The prices are pretty good during the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend at various retailers, but Amazon has the best price of all.
Office for Mac 2011 has gotten favorable reviews and performs better than previous versions. If you are interested in upgrading from an older version Thanksgiving weekend will probably be your best opportunity to get a good deal.
Traditionally Black Friday takes place on the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving — November 26th this year. It is the official start of the holiday season when retailers generally open up very early and offer deep discounts on items geared towards drawing you into their stores. They hope you’ll buy more through impulse buying.
However, in recent years things are changing so start looking for deals – now. The holiday shopping season seems to start earlier every year, but actually practically after Halloween in the US. Best Buy, Target and Walmart are already offering pre-Black Friday deals on their websites and many other retailers are too.
If you are looking for the best Black Friday deals you’re in luck because you have Apple technology to help you find them. You need to use that technology to your advantage so you don’t miss out on some good deals. I will help you get started with this first post — a technology overview for all you avid shoppers out there.
Later this week and next week I’ll follow-up with more specific information on applying these technologies which I’ll summarize here. I hope all this information will turn you into a savvy Black Friday shopper.