Comments on: Apple offers limited Black Friday price cuts

Some had speculated that company's one-day sale would mean steep discounts, but the cuts turn out to be on par with years past.
(From Reuters)

[Brian]

Given the serious nature of the economy, Apple really dropped the ball this year with their "discount" special.

The biggest savings is in Microsoft Office 2008 for the Mac - yeh, a Microsoft product beat every single Apple product in terms of price cut!

As much as I like Apple, I will congratulate Microsoft for beating Apple for once! :D

[Norseman]

Wouldn't you expect the largest price cuts to be on things that aren't selling well? If you look at the facts in your post in that light, what does it tell you?

[timber2005]

@Norseman Seriouslly?
Office 2008 for Mac was hailed for the highest sales in any Microsoft Office release.

http://www.macobserver.com/article/2008/05/13.9.shtml
"The velocity of sales for Office 2008 is nearly three times as compared with the launch sales of Office 2004.""

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2008/may08/05-13MacBU2008PR.mspx
Microsoft press release on it.

[Alex Alexzander]

@norseman,

Gee, what happened to your argument about the facts? Like all Mac users, you guys love to say Facts and Ignorant all the time. Yet when you are so clearly wrong, you're most certainly not here to face the music. And for the record, Microsoft still bests Apple in raw profits over 100% The only reason Apple has almost as much cash as Microsoft is because Microsoft gave over 30 billion in dividends, which is 50% more than Apple's total cash on hand. And yet MS still has more cash.

When Apple gives away 30 billion in dividends, you can talk to me about how great their sales are compared to Microsoft.

Alex Alexzander

[Norseman]

I still don't see what makes Microsoft a hero for lowering their prices more than Apple. The "manufacturing" costs for software is much, MUCH less than hardware. The profit margin for software has to be a lot greater than for hardware. They can afford to lower prices more. What's the big deal?

[mmntech]

Well, I was wanting a new Macbook and $101 off isn't too bad. It actually brings the Canadian price in line with the non-sale American price.

[skycorgan]

Apple has sale, news at 11. Apple has a Black Friday sale every year, as does every other retailer. Given the current economic climate, retailers are desperate to unload tons of inventory they have stockpiling, but the deals just haven't been that great across the board in comparison with previous years.

Perhaps this year will finally be the year that puts pointless stores out of business. You know, places that just sell candles, or just sell knick knacks, or just sell [fill in the blank].

When there is a good sale on American made merchandise to help the local economies, please let everyone know.

[Mr. Dee]

What I find strange is that 150 naive individuals actually lined up at an Apple store when all of the major Mac rumor websites were informing them about deep discounts at Apple resellers such as MacMall and MacConnection, up to $250 off on some models. Geez, I think the loyalty to the brand is more like insanity for some.

[Brian]

I agree 100% with you, Mr. Dee.

I avoid the Apple retail store like a virus!

I bought both of my Macs online, a much better shopping experience by far.

No lines, no waits, no excuses.

Considering how Apple is trying to push retail sales of CD music out of business with their iTunes online music store, I am surprised they would be opening retail outlets of their own.

I will always buy CDs and DVDs from retail outlets because unlike buying from iTunes, once I own the physical CD, I can play the music on any device I wish, not just an iPod.

[ubnyan]

i went to the Apple store ready to buy a brand new MacBook Pro. I knew it was not on sale but it was at other authorized online retailes such as amazon or clubmac so I showed this to the sales guy. The price difference was of $250, the manager only wanted to honor $200 and not match the online sale for the exact same MBP. So... I left empty handed. I already get $100 off just for being a student, so the price difference didn't make much sense to me plus I wasn't able to configure it to my needs, something I can do online. Let's see what specials they have for Christmas.

[Brian]

Here is what I recommend, give Apple a call and ask them for a discount code.

If you order your Macbook Pro online, you can enter the discount code and save some money.

Like I said previously, I avoid the Apple retail store for a reason - the experience is horrible!

The only way to save money is to buy online or at Best Buy (and they do offer discounts).

[Brian]

A though just occurred.

You can report the manager of that Apple retail store directly to Apple and let them deal with it.

In fact, you might get an offer just for reporting it.

[jscott418]

We tend to blame Apple for over representing their Black Friday event. But I personally think its the media who tend to over blow and read more into it then what it is. After all, why would you believe they would do something more in discounts when history tells us otherwise. Much of the media and consumer's for that matter. Seem to think Apple is the opposite of Microsoft. In my belief and taking a centered view of Apple.
I think the media for the most part make excuses for Apple while at the same time hang Microsoft on everything. Apple if you look at them as a business are doing nothing more then over protecting their profit margins. They operate on a pay our price or go somewhere else business model. Its very good while it lasts. In fact most other computer makers would gladly have a few more Mac buyer's who think nothing of slapping down money and paying retail for a computer. I hate to say it, but many Apple fans are somewhat brainwashed and do very little in comparing prices. They are quite content to just shelling out whatever Apple puts on their products and bragging to anyone who will listen how great they are.
I do not think Apple makes great products. They make OK products, but they lack any better warranty then anybody else. In fact unless you shell out for Apple care you can forget free support after 90 days and a one year warranty is no better then Dell. Sure, I like my iMac, but only because I priced out any comparable system and decided the iMac was the right choice. Just recently I needed a Laptop and decided Apple did not offer a good flexible laptop for my budget which was under $1000. I ended up with a Dell Inspiron 13 because of the added features it had over the MacBook. This is where Apple has begun to fail. It lacks the ability to decide function over design. The lattest MacBook's are pretty and the Aluminum block sturdiness is appealing but not if you drop Firewire and not add another USB port and a card reader. Plenty of laptops at half the price do better then the MacBook. No, design only goes so far and then it falls back on how well does the laptop do what you want it to do? Have you ever seen these magnificent pieces of art but wonder what purpose they hold. Well I think that with some of Apple's latest products.

[Brian]

I agree in that I do not understand why Apple would drop the Firewire 400 port on the 13" Macbook.

I bought my 13" Macbook last summer and am GLAD that I did not wait for the new model to arrive!

My external drive is a Firewire 400 model, not USB - so it cannot plug into the Airport Extreme Base Station for wireless access.

[Seaspray0]

Keep in mind that apple does not compete in the mainstream price range. They do not make an $800 laptop. Don't expect them to follow the same rules as the other computer makers, nor will the same economics apply to them because of it. But by the same standard, I don't expect apple to sell to the masses until they do provide products in the mainstream price range. The lack of enthousiasm by apple to discount prices on black friday just confirms my belief that they have no interest in the masses. Is it a smart strategy? Who knows, but it seems to work for them so far.

[Vegaman_Dan]

""They feel like their brand and their product maintain their value better than others do, and they don't have to resort to wholesale price cutting."

Apparently they do if they reduced the prices for Black Friday.

I'm surprised they reduced their prices at all, or more importanty permitted retailers to discount the price of the units without punishment. In the past if a retailer discounted an Apple product, they would find themselves without Apple products to sell (example: Fry's).

I'm pleased they relaxed the pricing. On the other hand, it's an indication that they may need to adjust pricing to stay attractive in this economy.

[Brian]

Besides Black Friday, does Apple ever have a sale?

Seriously, I want to save money!

Apple has a strategy to update their products so often, they don't have to excuse themselves from lowering their sky-high prices.

Thank god for competition!

I hope Google creates a line of desktop and notebook computers to compete with Windows and the Mac, seriously, the computer industry has NO competition to save consumers money!

No other industry rips off the public like this and gets away with it.

[ittesi259]

I think all these articles about the economy and how Apple should have slashed prices to get people to buy their products was hilarious. Most business are run off of debt but Apple has billions sitting on hand and 0 debt. So...they can weather this storm and not have to change their business model in a panic mode just because everyone else is. Talk about the benefits of saving money for a rainy day.