While the discounts on offer with Apple's 'Black Friday' might not exactly be overwhelming, it's rare Apple discounts at all, so get in quick if you want to make a saving.
In the US it's called Black Friday, occurring the day after Thanksgiving and known for being a major retail event (much like Australia's madcap Boxing Day rush sales). While the holiday itself is not actually observed here, some Australian retailers including Apple Australia are adopting the same calendar promotional opportunity, although Apple locally markets the sale plainly as a "
special one-day Apple shopping event".
So what's on offer? A number of discounts are available across much but not all of Apple's product range. Savings can be made on the iPad 2 (from $534, up to $45 to $65 off), iPod touch (from $198, up to $21 to $41 off), iPod nano (from $138, up to $11 off), MacBook Air (from $978, up to $121 off) and MacBook Pro lines (from $1,278, up to $121 off).
If you were hoping to grab a bargain-priced iPhone, iPod classic, Apple TV or Mac Pro/mini you're out of luck. Some Apple-branded accessories, such as mice, keyboards and gift cards are also on special. Stronger discounts can be found in Apple's stock of third-party brand accessories (unsurprisingly deemed more discountable than Apple's unwaveringly high-margin gear).
If these prices don't satisfy, competitive Apple specials are also on offer elsewhere locally (notably
here and
here), or why not try your hand at nabbing some Black Friday bargains directly from the US? While Apple's US sale (not online as yet) will likely offer similar discounts to those found here, there's a sensational range of specials on all sorts of other tech deals (like massively discounted Android tablets, Ultrabooks and digital cameras) from various
retailers in the US. Shipping of course is a factor (as is making sure you're protected by the right kind of warranty), but for some of these specials it just might be worth it. For more on saving money by buying tech from overseas, check out our guides
here and
here.
