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Even Apple seems to be skipping Black Friday this year

Even Apple seems to be skipping Black Friday this year

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For years now, Apple has joined retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart in celebrating Black Friday with rare discounts on its flagship products (2014, 2013, 2012, 2011). This year, however, it seems Apple is skipping the party.

It's not that you can't find Apple products on sale — Best Buy, for example, is offering $100 off the latest iPads — it's that the company's own retail machine is not participating.

It isn't clear exactly why Apple decided to forego deals today, but it might have to do with the overall decline of Black Friday itself. As noted by The New York Times, retail sales for this holiday weekend have been in decline since 2012, and sales from Cyber Monday haven't offset the downward trend.

Black Friday has been on the decline since 2012

Perhaps Apple is saving everything for Cyber Monday, which is a much bigger day for online shopping than Black Friday. Or maybe Apple knows that it can still push products today without a sale, as it has with Singles' Day in China (an event that handedly outpaces both Black Friday and Cyber Monday in terms of e-commerce). It could be that the company simply just wanted to experiment, as it has recently with a rare iPhone / Apple Watch bundle. Apple may well change go back to Black Friday sales next year, especially as markets like Britain join in on the veritable retail orgy.

We've reached out to Apple for comment. In the meantime, you'll have to find your Apple discounts elsewhere. French retailer Colette, for example, is offering 50 percent off an 18-carat rose gold Apple Watch. It's now just shy of $7,000.


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