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12% of iPad owners in the enterprise no longer use their laptop

Jan 162012

More than one in ten iPad owning business professionals have indicated that Apple’s touchscreen tablet has become their portable device of choice, completely replacing their laptop.

The role of the iPad in the enterprise was explored in a new study revealed this week by IDG Connect. The “iPad for Business Survey 2012″ features interviews with IT and business professionals from around the world.

The survey found that 12 percent of workers indicated that the iPad has “completely replaced” their traditional laptop. Another 54 percent said the iPad has “partly” replaced their laptop, and instead complements it on the go.

“If a majority of professionals still use laptops, the iPad has certainly curtailed usage levels,” the report reads. “Nearly three-quarters of respondents say that they ‘carry their laptop around less’ now that they own an iPad.”

The iPad has had less of an effect on desktop PCs, where just 6 percent of respondents said the iPad has “completely” replaced their desktop, while 33 percent said the iPad has “partly” replaced their desktop.

“For most, the iPad isn’t a substitute for an existing tool or device,” IDG said. “Instead, it’s a supplement, albeit one with functionality that overlaps with other devices. As a result, the iPad seems to have carved out a niche for itself at the partial expense of several rival form factors.”

The iPad has earned a major presence in the enterprise thanks mostly to consumers who buy Apple’s tablet with their own money. Three-quarters of respondents told IDG that they bought their iPad privately, while one-quarter said they were supplied with an iPad by their employer.

The most common use of the iPad among professionals is Web browsing, which 79 percent said they “always” use the device for. Reading followed closely with 76 percent, news consumption had 73 percent, and work communication earned 54 percent.

In all, 91 percent of professionals who own an iPad said they use the device at work — 51 percent “always” use their iPad at work, while 40 percent said it is used there “sometimes.” And the iPad has quickly become IT professionals’ go-to device for computing on the go, as 79 percent said they “always” use their iPads outside of their home.

IDG’s findings are just the latest survey to find that the iPad is the tablet of choice among enterprise users. One survey revealed last October found that the iPad represented 96 percent of total tablet activations in the workplace.

In their last quarterly earnings report in October, Apple officials revealed that 90 percent of the Fortune 500 were deploying or testing the iPad, even though the device had only been available on the market for 18 months.

Inside Apple’s 2011: Mac hardware and Mac OS X

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Dec 292011

This year, Apple’s Mac OS X platform turned ten years old, launched the 10.7 Lion reference release, introduced the Mac App Store and iCloud, and delivered a series of new Macs boasting fast, flexible Thunderbolt connectivity and speedy new Sandy Bridge processors.

Record sales of Macs

In 2011, Apple set new sales records for its 27 year old Mac platform, hitting a milestone of 4.89 million Macs sold in the fiscal Q4 ending in September, a number 700,000 units larger that the previous year’s record quarter of sales.

Just five years ago, Apple was selling 5.4 million Macs per year (hitting a quarterly peak of 1.6 million Macs in Q4 2006). Those sales were considered strong at the time, but after a half decade of introducing new Intel-based Macs the company’s hardware sales have more than tripled, resulting in an installed base of more than 58 million users.

Compared to the 4 percent annual growth of the overall PC market, Apple has experienced six times the growth of the industry, with a 23 percent increase in Mac sales over the past year, even when excluding sales figures for the iOS-based iPad. Including iPad sales, Apple is now positioned to become the world’s largest PC vendor by the middle of next year.

A new 2011 Mac hardware focus on mobility

Apple officially retired its Xserve line at the beginning of the year, and introduced no new Mac Pro to replace last year’s “Mid-2010″ model, moves that signaled a departure from conventional PC and server markets and an intensified focus on mobile systems.

In its most recent conference call, Apple reported that mobile Macs now make up 74 percent of its computer sales. In large part, that’s because the company launched two new waves of MacBook Pro models featuring powerful new Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 processors, AMD graphics and the fast new Thunderbolt interconnect, affording its mobile systems a degree of power and expandability previously only available in a desktop tower. The new models also introduced fast 450 Mbps WiFi and higher quality FaceTime HD cameras.

In the summer, Apple introduced new MacBook Air models incorporating mobile versions of Intel’s Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips along with Thunderbolt and Bluetooth 4.0, repositioning the Air as its entry level notebook by eliminating the white plastic MacBook model.

Apple also introduced new iMacs and a refreshed edition of its “unibody” Mac mini and Mac mini server that similarly incorporated the same faster CPUs and Thunderbolt connectivity features.

Thunderbolt enables new 2011 Macs the ability to drive two external displays (apart from the Air, which can power one) as well as serving as a conduit for PCI Express, supporting two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to 10Gbps each, all over a single cable. Apple also introduced its own 27 inch, $999 Thunderbolt Display providing 2.1 speaker sound, a FaceTime HD camera, 3 USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, and a Thunderbolt interface for connecting a chain of five additional devices.

New Mac 2011 software, App Store, cloud services

In 2011, Apple released three free updates for Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the most significant new feature of which added support for the new Mac App Store. Following the success of the App Store for iOS devices, the Mac App Store launched a new way for Mac users to safely obtain software as a digital download.

Many third party developers, led by Pixelmator, have embraced the new store as their exclusive or at least primary means of distributing their software and advertising it to the Mac audience. Among the most successful developers embracing the Mac App Store is Apple itself, which currently produces seven of the store’s top ten paid titles, and eight of the top eight highest grossing titles.

Apple launched the Mac App Store with its existing $15 iLife and $20 iWork apps, along with its professional Aperture photography software, discounted from $199 to just $79 as a digital download. The company later added a completely revamped Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro 9 to the Mac App Store as their exclusive means of distribution, replacing its former $500 and $1000 suites with standalone apps costing $199 and $299. Apple also added the companion apps Motion 5 and Compressor 4 for $49.99 each, and MainStage 2 for $29.99.

The Mac App Store’s most popular download by far, however, is Mac OS X Lion, which Apple released in July as a $29.99 upgrade for 64-bit Intel-based Snow Leopard users. Apple announced in its first quarter of sales that there were 6 million downloads of Lion, an 80 percent increase in sales over Apple’s previous Snow Leopard release.

As Apple’s first digital download of a desktop operating system, the Lion upgrade introduced a variety of features, many of which drew upon the company’s experience in launching the iPad (including automatic file saving and undo revisions; updated apps with a simplified, iPad-like appearance; a Launchpad that offers easy access to apps similar to the iOS home screen; iOS-like spell checking and foreign character input; support for full screen apps and an expanded use of iOS-like multitouch gestures to navigate the interface).

Lion also introduced full disk encryption with FileVault 2; expanded accessibility including multilingual VoiceOver screen reader support; significant improvements to Safari 5.0; a variety of security enhancements; better Spotlight search; expanded Quick Look features and the ability to authenticate users via their Apple ID, among what Apple describes as more than 250 features.

A final major feature related to Lion and iOS 5 is iCloud. Mid year, Apple’s Steve Jobs outlined at the company’s Worldwide Developer Conference how all three components would work together to replace the “digital hub” strategy he had unveiled ten years earlier with a new cloud computing model that would radiate from the company’s servers, enabling users to manage apps, photos, calendars, contacts, documents and purchased content between computers and mobile devices.

The Mac future

While setting new hardware sales records and releasing the origins of an entirely new cloud based computing environment this year, Apple also achieved ten years of Mac OS X development and fifteen years of an impressive reinvention of the company under Steve Jobs, following Apple’s fateful acquisition of NeXT at the end of 1996.

Apple’s iMac and MacBook Pro are the number one selling notebook and desktop in the U.S., even though Apple still has a relatively small share of the overall PC market, offering plenty of growth potential. While the company has experienced even faster and more lucrative growth in its iPhone and iPad sales, it has made it clear that the Mac platform is central to its business, and won’t be sidelined as many pundits had predicted as sales of the iPod and later iOS devices exploded throughout the last decade.

Rather than being left behind, Apple has used Mac OS X as the basis for developing iOS, and has since shared technologies between the two at a rapid pace, progressively enhancing both platforms in tandem. While the development of Mac hardware and software was broad and deep in 2011, it certainly wasn’t all Apple achieved in the year. The next segment will look at what else the company delivered in parallel, based on its mobile iOS platform.

Rumor: Apple to unveil high-end, mid-range third-gen iPads in January

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Dec 292011

An unverified report out of the Far East claims that Apple will unveil in January 2012 two new models of the iPad, with one high-end version featuring an 8-megapixel camera and a mid-range model equipped with a 5-megapixel shooter, but the rumor has quickly been dismissed as unlikely.

Taiwan industry publication DigiTimes released on Thursday a pair of unusually specific reports about Apple’s plans for the next generation of iPads. However, AppleInsider cannot vouch for the claims and is including them simply for the sake of discussion.

According to one report from the publication, Apple will take the wraps off both a high-end and a mid-range iPad at the MacWorld | iWorld conference on Jan. 26, 2012. Such a move, however, would be highly unlikely, as Apple announced in late 2008 that it would no longer exhibit at the conference after January 2009.

Apple has instead preferred to unveil its first two generations of the iPad at its own media events. The original version of the touchscreen tablet was announced on Jan. 27, 2010, while the iPad 2 was shown off on March 2, 2011.

DigiTimes did reaffirm widespread reports that the next-generation iPad will feature a Retina Display-like screen with a doubled resolution of 2,048 pixels x 1,536 pixels. Sources told the publication that both the rumored mid-range and high-end models would feature QXGA resolution with a dual LED light-bar solution to bolster the brightness of the display.

The report also went on to note that Sharp will be the “major panel supplier” for the display on the third-generation iPad, with Samsung and LG also producing some panels. Samsung is rumored to manufacture quad-core A6 processors, as well as the CMOS image sensor for the mid-range iPad, which sources indicated would sport a 5-megapixel lens. Sony has reportedly been tapped to provide the image sensor for a high-end iPad with an 8-megapixel lens.

Finally, sources said Apple would continue to offer the iPad 2, at a discount, in order to position the device to compete directly with Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire.

A second report from the publication on Thursday claimed the so-called iPad 3 would feature a 14,000mAH battery, a significant boost in capacity from the battery currently used in the iPad 2.

Recent reports have disagreed on Apple’s timeframe for the launch of the third-generation iPad. One recent rumor, also out of Asia, claimed Apple would honor late co-founder Steve Jobs by launching the next iPad on his birthday, which falls on Feb. 24. That would fall in line with an analyst report that cited also next February for the launch. For its part, DigiTimes claimed earlier this month that the device will arrive in March or April.

Speculation that Apple will expand the iPad lineup have picked up in recent months. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster suggested last week that the company will offer a broader range of price points for the next-generation iPad. Another analyst recently claimed the Cupertino, Calif., company may be planning an “iPad 2S” model alongside a full-fledged iPad 3.

Apple headlines 8 of WSJ’s 10 most-read corporate articles in 2011

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Dec 292011

Apple came up as a frequent hot topic in business news this year, as evidenced by the fact that eight of the ten most-read corporate articles from The Wall Street Journal in 2011 were about the company and its co-founder Steve Jobs.

The Journal proclaimed 2011 “the year of Apple Inc.” on Thursday, noting that the Cupertino, Calif., company had “dominated” the paper’s headlines throughout the year.

The most-read corporate story was the news in October in that Jobs had died at age 56. The second most popular article was the news that Verizon would begin selling the iPhone.

Jobs’ decision to step down as Apple’s CEO in August was the third most-read story, followed by the unveiling of the iPad 2. A report that Sprint would begin carrying the iPhone took the fifth spot on the list, while the unveiling of the iPhone 4S came in sixth.

The seventh most-read corporate news story for the publication was a report on Jobs, who was on medical leave at the time, taking the stage at the iPad 2 launch. The eighth story was related to a controversy that erupted earlier this year when security researchers publicized a database file in iOS that was believed to be tracking users’ locations.

Rounding out the top 10 list were two non-Apple related stories. The ninth most-read article covered the news that book seller Borders would be forced to liquidate after being unable to find a buyer. Finally the 10th most popular story detailed Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s harsh words for fellow co-founder Bill Gates in a memoir published earlier this year.

As 2011 comes to a close, Apple is poised to finish up the year with a record-smashing holiday quarter. According to one analyst and fund manager, the company’s guidance suggests it could post the “biggest earnings blowout in the history of the world,” driven largely by unprecedented sales of the iPhone.

To read more about Apple’s banner year, take a look at AppleInsider’s in-depth feature: Inside Apple’s Year of Macs and Mac OS X: 2011.

Most small & medium businesses plan to buy Apple iPads in next 12 months

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Dec 292011

A new survey of small- and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. found that 73 percent plan to buy tens of thousands of dollars worth of tablets 12 months, and most of those purchases will be Apple’s iPad.

The NPD Group polled American businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees about their intent to buy tablets over the next year, and found nearly three quarters intend to bring touchscreen tablets into the workplace. Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, said businesses are “determined” to embrace tablets, and Apple’s iPad remains the top choice in the enterprise.

“The iPad, just as it is in the consumer market, is synonymous for ‘Tablet’ in the business market, leaving Apple poised to take advantage of the increased spending intentions of these SMBs (small and medium businesses),” Baker said. “NPD’s research shows that iPad purchase preference is higher among larger firms than smaller ones, which is an important indicator that Apple is gaining traction far outside its typical consumer space.”

Tablet buying intentions are highest among larger companies with between 501 and 999 employees, where 89 percent of businesses will buy a tablet, and spend an average of $38,749. The average small- and medium-sized business is expected to spend more than $21,000 on tablets in the next year.

The survey also shows that an overwhelming majority — 90 percent — of firms polled plan to maintain or increase their spending on tablets over the next year.

The latest NPD data comes from its quarterly SMB Technology Monitor survey. The questions were fielded in September of 2011, and firms with fewer than 1,000 employees answered questions about purchase intentions for tablets, PCs, mobile phones, networking and more.

Apple officials have repeatedly boasted about the success the iPad has seen in the enterprise over a short time. In each of the company’s quarterly earnings conference calls, executives have revealed adoption rates among Fortune 500 companies, and in October it was said that 90 percent of the Fortune 500 were deploying or testing the iPad, just 18 months since it first debuted.

Another survey revealed by Good Technology in October found that the iPad represented nearly all of enterprise tablet adoptions. The iPad represented 96 percent of tablet activations tracked by the company, while Android represented just 4 percent of activations in the third quarter of 2011.

Apple’s future iPhones & iPads could automatically personalize via face recognition

iPad No Responses »

Dec 292011

Using a forward-facing camera to recognize an individual user, future iPhones and iPads from Apple could automatically customize applications, settings and features to a user’s personal preferences once they pick up the device.

Apple’s concept was revealed in a new patent application published this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and discovered by AppleInsider. Entitled “Low Threshold Face Recognition,” it describes a low-computation solution for quickly and accurately recognizing a user.

The filing provides a simple way for multiple users to share a single device, like an iPad. Each user could customize their personal profile with unique wallpaper, applications and settings, and that profile would be immediately accessed once the iPad recognizes a user’s face.

Apple’s application notes that robust facial recognition systems that work in various lighting conditions and orientations can be taxing on an electronic device, requiring resources and draining battery life.

Its solution would reduce the impact of lighting conditions and biometric distortions on an image. The filing describes a “low-computation solution for reasonably effective (low threshold) face recognition that can be implemented on camera-equipped consumer portable appliances.”

Rather than aggressively analyzing a user’s entire face and using up time and resources, Apple’s concept would rely on a “high information portion” of a human face. Potential high information portions could include eyes, a mouth, or the tip of a user’s nose.

By recognizing the individual features on a user’s face, the system could scale the distance between someone’s eyes and their mouth. That distance could then be measured against the reference image originally captured by the user in order to confirm it is in fact the same person.

Apple’s application notes that its facial recognition capabilities could be constantly active due to lower power consumption. This means a user could simply point an iPhone or iPad at their face, without pressing a button, and have the screen automatically turn on and unlock the device.

This could be accomplished through an “orange-distance filter,” which would capture the “likely presence” of a human face in front of a camera. This filter would also be used to detect a person’s skin tone, and measure the distance of their face from the camera.

Once a user has been recognized, the facial recognition technology could not only grant them access to the device, but also customize its settings based on a unique user profile. Each user would be presented with a personalized configuration, as an iPhone or iPad would be able to “modify screen saver slide shows or other appliance non-security preferences,” the application reads.

The proposed invention, made public this week, was first filed by Apple in June of 2009. It is credited to Robert Mikio Free.

Apple was rumored in September of 2010 to have acquired a Swedish facial recognition company, Polar Rose, for $29 million. One of the company’s products, Recognizr, could take a photo of a user and recognize that same person when shown on video.

Reports have indicated that Apple has long shown interest in having its devices identify users with facial recognition technology and customize a device based on their personal preferences. In early 2010, before the iPad was announced, The Wall Street Journal revealed that an early prototype of Apple’s touchscreen tablet would use a forward-facing camera to recognize users’ faces, allowing it to be one device easily shared by the entire family.

Apple reportedly experimented with the ability to customize the device, and have it automatically switch to a user’s personal settings once they picked it up. One early feature included virtual “sticky notes” that one user could leave for another, and would be read the next time they picked up the iPad.

Apple reducing iPad 2 orders, but ‘too early to tell’ if it will be phased out

iPad No Responses »

Dec 292011

Apple has begun reducing orders for the iPad 2 ahead of the unveiling of a new third-generation iPad, but it’s not yet known whether Apple will keep the iPad 2 around at a discounted price.

Sources in Apple’s supply chain told DigiTimes that orders for the iPad 2 are gradually dropping ahead of an anticipated third-generation iPad. While iPad 2 orders are being reduced, orders for the next iPad, reportedly set to launch in March of 2012, remain steady.

Various reports have suggested that Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 at a discounted price after it launches a third-generation iPad. Apple already employs that strategy in offering the iPhone 3GS, first released in 2009, as an entry-level handset, in addition to the iPhone 4, released in 2010, and iPhone 4S, which just launched in October.

DigiTimes, which has a hit-and-miss track record with Apple-related rumors, also believes that the iPad 2 will remain available at a discounted price in order to take on Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire.

With the reduction in iPad 2 orders, sources reportedly told the publication it is “still too early to tell” whether Apple plans to phase out the iPad 2, or keep it around following the launch of a third-generation iPad. “More observations need to be done in 2012 before the picture becomes clearer,” the report said.

Apple has found great success in continuing to sell older iPhone models at discounted prices. As of August, the iPhone 3GS was still the No. 2 selling smartphone in America, and Apple is rumored to still be producing 2 million per quarter of the two-year-old handset, which continues to often outsell newer Android handsets.

Numerous rumors have suggested Apple plans to expand its iPad lineup in 2012, offering more models with different features at a number of price points, much like it already does with its MacBooks. The next iPad is expected to feature a high-resolution Retina Display like is already found on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Purported parts for Apple’s ‘iPad 3′ suggest 30-pin dock connector will remain

iPad No Responses »

Dec 292011

New components claimed to be from Apple’s third-generation iPad show continued use of the 30-pin dock connector, potentially dispelling rumors that it would be replaced with a smaller form factor.

Japan’s Macotakara ordered a handful of components claimed to be from prototype builds of Apple’s anticipated third-generation iPad. The so-called “replacement parts” purport to be a microphone flex cable ribbon, power on/off flex cable, and dock connector charging port.

The dock connector is the most significant of the trio of components, because the 30-pin port still fits with Apple’s existing iPod cable used on current iPhone, iPad and iPod models. The hands-on look at the part found that the cable sticks slightly shallower into the port, and the connector is shorter than before.

An earlier rumor about the next iPad’s dock connector surfaced in October from the same website, suggesting Apple’s third-generation iPad would feature a new, smaller dock connector. It was then claimed that the port would include the same 30-pin input and electricity specification internally, but it would be redesigned and smaller on the outside.

The current 30-pin dock connector was first introduced in Apple’s iPod lineup back in April of 2003. It has been largely unchanged ever since, and Apple has even managed to squeeze the port onto its diminutive touchscreen iPod nano.

As for the other alleged third-generation iPad components, the power on/off flex cable includes a power button, rotation lock button, and volume button, suggesting all of those hardware features will be retained in the next iPad. The microphone flex cable is also said to be redesigned from the iPad 2.

The parts were obtained from reseller TVC-Mall.com, which gained attention earlier this month when it was found to be selling the microphone flex cable ribbon replacement. Because the part shows a different arrangement in internal circuitry than with the iPad 2, it led to speculation that the internal components of a so-called “iPad 3″ may feature a significant redesign.

The first purported iPad 3 part surfaced in July, and it too hinted at material design changes with the next-generation tablet, at least internally, due to different part numbers on a hardware component.

Fake Apple billing email is circulating

Apple No Responses »

Dec 282011

Not surprisingly, scammers are targeting Apple customers with a fake phishing email asking them to update their account billing information. People who are new to Apple and probably received their first Mac or iOS device during the holiday season are particularly vulnerable to this scam. This group of customers would not be surprised to receive an email from Apple shortly after they signed up for iTunes for the first time.

According to Intego, the email has the same silver coloring as Apple’s website and includes the Apple logo to make it look authentic. If you click on the link within the email, you’ll travel to a website that closely resembles Apple’s website. Of course, there’s a login on the fake page that’ll steal your Apple ID and password if you make the mistake of logging into the site. On the next page, there’s a form that’ll steal your credit card information if you willingly submit this information to the fake site.

The only way to tell that this email is a scam is to look closely at the URL contained in the email. The link in the email says “store.apple.com”, but the underlying URL directs you to page named “apple.htm” on a server that does not belong to Apple. Depending on your email client, you only have to put you pointer over the link to see a pop-up box that’ll expose this fake web address. A real link to Apple’s website will end in “apple.com” and not some random name or number like the one shown above.

To be extra cautious, you should avoid clicking on links in an email and go directly to Apple’s website by typing in “store.apple.com” into your web browser. Once you’ve manually logged into your Apple account, you can then update your billing information, if necessary.

Black Friday 2011: A List of Discounts on Apple Products and More

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Nov 252011

Black Friday kicked off on the day after Thanksgiving and frequently offers customers short term sales on many products. While Apple does participate, their discounts tend to be rather small. Other online retailers can sometimes fill the gap to offer more enticing offers.

Sales Tax

National retailers such as Apple and Best Buy charge local sales tax on all orders. So, the advantage of using other online-only retailers is not getting charged that sales tax at the time of order (though you are typically expected to report it later). Local sales taxes are automatically charged for the following retailers in the following states:

- Amazon: Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota, or Washington
- MacMall: North Carolina, Illinois, New York, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Colorado, and Wisconsin.

So, if you are in one of those states, it may make sense to look elsewhere or simply buy locally anyway if the savings are comparable.

iPad 2s

BestBuy was offering $45 off all iPad 2 models, but it appears to be sold out online. You may have luck at your local stores.

MacMall is offering $25-$45 discounts on iPad 2s as well depending on model. They appear to still be in stock.

Apple’s online store is offering $41-$61 off the iPad 2 depending on model. Stock should be good from Apple.

Discounts on Other Apple Products

Apple’s online sales prices will be on their online Apple Store, but their discounts will generally be the worst for most products (iPad 2 exception above), especially when sales tax is included.

Here’s a list of prices at MacMall, Amazon and Apple Online’s prices across the range of Apple’s products.

Current Model	Retail	MacMall	Amazon	Apple
11″ 1.6GHz 64GB MacBook Air	$999	-$59	-$101 (10%)	-$101
11″ 1.6GHz 128GB MacBook Air	$1199	-$60	-$101 (8%)	-$101
13″ 1.7GHz 128GB MacBook Air	$1299	-$101 (8%)	-$60	-$101
13″ 1.7GHz 256GB MacBook Air	$1599	-$101 (6%)	-$49	-$101
13″ 2.4GHz MacBook Pro	$1199	-$101 (8%)	-$101	-$101
13″ 2.8GHz MacBook Pro	$1499	-$101 (7%)	-$101	-$101
15″ 2.2GHz MacBook Pro	$1799	-$89	-$101 (6%)	-$101
15″ 2.4Ghz MacBook Pro	$2199	-$140 (6%)	-$139	-$101
17″ 2.4GHz MacBook Pro	$2499	-$150 (6%)	-$11	-$101
2.3GHz Mac mini	$599	-$34 (6%)	-$5
2.5GHz Mac mini	$799	-$29 (4%)	-$29
21″ 2.5GHz iMac	$1199	-$101 (8%)	-$101	-$101
21″ 2.7GHz iMac	$1499	-$101	-$101	-$101
27″ 2.7GHz iMac	$1699	-$101	-$101	-$101
27″ 3.1GHz iMac	$1999	-$104	-$104	-$101
8GB iPod Touch (Black)	$199	-$9	-$21 (10%)	-$21
8GB iPod Touch (White)	$199	-$9	-$21 (10%)	-$21
32GB iPod Touch (Black)	$299	-$24	-$31 (10%)	-$31
32GB iPod Touch (White)	$299	-$24	-$31 (10%)	-$31
64GB iPod Touch (Black)	$399	-$34	-$41 (10%)	-$41
64GB iPod Touch (White)	$399	-$34	-$41 (10%)	-$41
Apple TV	$99	-$4	-$9 (9%)

Click on prices to link directly to product.

Best prices are listed in bold. Prices may fluctuate during the day.

Note that Best Buy has particularly good deal on an 11″ MacBook Air for $849 ($150 off), though they are out of stock on their online store.

Others Discounts of Interest

- $100 iTunes Gift Card – for $80
- Microsoft Office Home and Student – for $69.99 ($50 off)
- Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 – for $49.99 ($50 off)
- For Fry’s, they are offering 8GB iPod Touch for $188 and you get a free $50 gift card. In store only (not online).
- iCade – $59.99 ($40 off)
- VMWare Fusion – $29.99 ($20 off)
- 27″ Thunderbolt Display – $929 ($70 off)

AppShopper tracks sales for iOS and Mac app stores. Some notable sales:

iOS:
- djay ($19.99 -> $9.99)
- RISK ($2.99 -> $0.99)
- A Charlie Brown Christmas ($6.99 -> $4.99)
- Real Racing ($2.99 -> $0.99)
- Mirrors Edge for iPad ($9.99 ->$1.99)

Mac:
- Grand Theft Auto 3 ($14.99 -> $6.99)
- 1Password ($49.99 -> $24.99)

Price Matching

We’ve heard that retail Apple Stores will price match on Black Friday with other authorized retailers if asked.

Please note that prices may fluctuate during the day, though we try to keep on top of them. Several of the vendors listed are affiliate partners with MacRumors and referred sales may benefit the site financially.

Older Entries

promacs.com

12% of iPad owners in the enterprise no longer use their laptop

Inside Apple’s 2011: Mac hardware and Mac OS X

Rumor: Apple to unveil high-end, mid-range third-gen iPads in January

Apple headlines 8 of WSJ’s 10 most-read corporate articles in 2011

Most small & medium businesses plan to buy Apple iPads in next 12 months

Apple’s future iPhones & iPads could automatically personalize via face recognition

Apple reducing iPad 2 orders, but ‘too early to tell’ if it will be phased out

Purported parts for Apple’s ‘iPad 3′ suggest 30-pin dock connector will remain

Fake Apple billing email is circulating

Black Friday 2011: A List of Discounts on Apple Products and More

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