[NewsPoster]

Apple's Black Friday deals are now live in the US with customers offered Apple Store gift cards instead of up-front discounts as Apple has offered customers in the past. This differs from the Black Friday deals in the UK, which continue to offer customers discounts on Apple products, although it is in line with the deals offered to Apple customers in Australia and New Zealand. Anyone buying an iPad Air today can expect a $75 Apple Store gift card, while buyers of the non-Retina iPad mini or iPad 2 will receive a $50 gift card. Gift cards are also being offered to buyers of MacBooks ($150), iMacs ($150), iPod touches ($50), iPod nanos ($25), the Apple TV ($25) as well as Apple peripherals and other accessories.

A wide range of third-party products are also accompanied by gift card offers including the GoPro Hero3+ ($50), the Wahoo Fitness RFLKT Bike Computer ($25), the Nike+ Fuelband SE ($25), the Apogee JAM Guitar Input ($25), the Nest Learning Thermostat 2 ($50), the Dropcam Pro Camera ($25) Beats Studio Headphones ($50), and the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad mini ($25). Deals can also be found on Bowers & Wilkins AirPort-compatible speakers and Ultimate Ears Bluetooth speakers.

The Apple Black Friday deals are the only time each year that Apple offers store-wide specials. From time-to-time, Apple also offers special educational deals and iTunes gift cards for other promotions based on seasonal inventory adjustments.

[myramoki]

Can't use gift card to purchase any of these items, online at least!

We'll I thought I'd try to get an iPad Air using a $100 gift card I got awhile back, and do in-store pickup. Seemed reasonable. Nope! The store doesn't let me enter my gift card for billing.

Long story short, these gift card deals Apple is offering is like purchasing a gift card, for $0. The online store won't let you purchase a gift card with a gift card, so it won't let you actually place an order. The phone line isn't open yet, so I can't call them to see if they can get around that and I hate to have to go to the actual store and wait only to get some sales-bot to tell me I can't use my gift card to purchase there either.

Moral: Send generic Visa / MC gift cards that don't have store limitations.

[myramoki]

Followup: Fortunately at the store, they took my gift card, and just handed me back a new $75 gift card. Unlike online or over the phone where they treat the situation as if you are purchasing a gift card, at the store, it was more like when you go to the doctor and they give you a free lollipop.

BTW, why not go to Target where they had the better deal and use my gift card money on something else? Well because for me, I wanted to spend less now. And using the Apple gift card I already had allowed me to do that.