Apple Brings ‘Black Friday’ Sales To UK

Apple is looking to bring Britain in on the United States’ “Black Friday” shopping landmark with a line-up of discounts offered for one day only.

The discounts, which cover products including iPads, iPods, Mac computers and accessories, are available via the British website as well as Apple Stores across the UK, Apple said.

Discounts

The iPad 2 is selling for £369, a discount of £30, while the iMac, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have all been discounted by £81. The iPod Touch is discounted by £15 and the iPod Nano by £11.

Accessories are also seeing their prices reduced, with a discount of £11 off the iPad Smart Cover, £41 off the 3TB Time Capsule and £11 off the Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse.

The discounts have also been extended to speaker docks, accessories and other third-party products.

In the US, the holiday following Thanksgiving – customarily held on a Thursday – has over time developed into a mass Christmas shopping event known as “Black Friday”.

High-tech retailers and online shops have naturally followed the trend, and more recently American companies have brought the custom to Europe as a way of jump-starting consumers’ shopping impulses.

For instance, Amazon UK’s “Deals Week”, ending on Friday, features “Lightning Deals” with discounts of up to 60 percent that last only for a few minutes. Users must pay within 15 minutes or the product is re-listed.

Christmas danger

Christmas shoppers eager for discounts also face perils. For instance, security experts have warned of a scam email claiming to offer $50 ($32) of credit for the iTunes Store, but which in fact contains malicious code.

British police recently said they had suspended more than 2,000 fraudulent e-commerce websites ahead of the Christmas shopping season.