digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About
See the original image at arstechnica.com

Analysts: Okay, so Apple didn't do so badly on Black Friday

arstechnica.com — Despite the fact that Apple's Black Friday sale last week was a little bit of a yawner, it turns out that the company still did well over the weekend despite the recession.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 2, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

52 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • BlackJackJester, on 12/02/2008, -6/+29If anyone gets me an iPod touch for Christmas, I'm going to promptly return it to pay for food for a month.
  • inara23, on 12/02/2008, -4/+25Apple's Black Friday sale was a yawner because their discounts are consistently so ridiculous they shouldn't even qualify as "on sale." $12 off a $300 iPod doesn't get anyone excited. If they continued to sell over the weekend, it's probably only because sales in general were up across the board, and people are always going to buy their products regardless of price.
  • jlimon, on 12/02/2008, -1/+19Or did the sale take advantage of you?
  • ToastPop, on 04/17/2009, -6/+22All hail Steve Mobbs!
  • orthodoxDrew, on 12/02/2008, -4/+16they should be happy for about 6 months before the new 'line' comes out
  • lordtyros, on 12/02/2008, -2/+11"Apple sold an average of 13 Macs per hour on Friday" Is that a typo? Because selling 104 computers in an 8 hour workday is unimpressive.
  • batmanz, on 12/02/2008, -5/+13So Apple did okay. So did everyone else. Why do we care?
  • inactive, on 12/02/2008, -8/+15mApple
  • WiZZLa, on 12/02/2008, -4/+9Thankfully, the Zune updates aren't side-steps, and from what I've seen, the firmware updates keep functionality and add features.

    edit: also, the nano (and recently the classic) gets "no updates for years" either (when compared to the Zune timeline).
  • drlha, on 12/02/2008, -0/+5What a bizarre statement. No company is recession proof, just more or less effected by the recession. Apple will take a downturn like everyone else.
  • sgtcaboose, on 12/02/2008, -13/+17No one died in an Apple store, the sales must've sucked.
  • kelly, on 12/02/2008, -4/+8Per store
  • soopafly, on 12/02/2008, -4/+8Or they could just get a Zune where there are no updates for years
  • inactive, on 12/02/2008, -2/+6"your just an Apple hater."

    And you're just an illiterate.
  • mannypdesign, on 12/02/2008, -1/+5Yeah, if you call process cheese and garbage bags food and clothing. LOL
  • sackU, on 12/02/2008, -1/+5I swear I heard thousands of credit cards dying last time I walked by a apple store. I think they were falling off the register counter like lemmings :)
  • moisie, on 12/02/2008, -1/+4Companies don't have sales for the fun of it, they have them to try and sell more than they normally would whilst hoping the increased revenue will offset the losses from reducing their prices. If a company already has good sales figures then they have no need to overly discount their products. For Apple, offering bigger discounts probably made no sense since they'd just have to sell x more to recoup it, x number of extra sales that they might not think they would get, or would get anyway.
  • WiZZLa, on 12/02/2008, -2/+5The Zune updates *might* work on older Zunes because they use the same kernel & architecture, in this case Windows CE and ARM, and are written with the old products in mind; this is actually a good thing and makes sense.

    It's very similar to how upgrading (from & to) XP, 2003, Vista, 7, Cheetah/Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Warty Warthog, Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft, Feisty Fawn, Gutsy Gibbon, Hardy Heron, Intrepid Ibex, or Jaunty Jackalope, etc doesn't require you to buy a whole new machine each time.
  • EllimistX, on 12/02/2008, -1/+4At least $13,000 an hour doesn't sound too bad.
  • Flytrap, on 12/02/2008, -3/+6Maybe its per store...
  • superkendall, on 12/02/2008, -5/+7Then buy iTunes Plus music which has no DRM. Or rip CD's, which also leaves you without DRM. Or buy DRM free music from Amazon and load it in iTunes.

    Not sure why you are blaming iTunes for the product you place in it.
  • jamauss, on 12/02/2008, -8/+10All I want for Christmas is for iTunes to go away. C'mon Santa, help me out. DRM has been very naughty this year.
  • Gloony, on 12/02/2008, -0/+2I don't understand why you're being dugg down - BF sales are up 3% compared with last year.

    If the MSM stopped saying "recession" every other word perhaps we wouldn't be in one.
  • TBobes, on 12/02/2008, -2/+4The recession must be only hitting hard on the coasts or something, or maybe the recent drop in gas prices have evened things out a little bit. I know that our local Best Buy had record sales this past Friday. Around here (Wisconsin), we haven't really seen much of a recession, I don't know what it is like anywhere else though. Stores have been packed like usual (maybe even more than usual) even though the ads are nothing special this year. Should be interesting to see the final numbers this holiday season.
  • inactive, on 12/02/2008, -0/+2DRM isn't the main problem with iTunes. It has plenty of defects and design blunders to justify your wish.
  • mannypdesign, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1Those aren't design flaws--they're trying to attract the Windows crowd with something they're used to seeing all the time. ;)
  • Georgy, on 12/03/2008, -0/+1Apple doing well is a testament to it's brand and products, Apple products are more like luxury items, like a Louis Vitton bag or Ferragamo shoes, yet people still deem an iMac or iPhone an essential item....
  • drlha, on 12/02/2008, -3/+4Except that sales were generally down across the board.
  • kelly, on 12/02/2008, -5/+6I like iTunes. Why not just hope for DRM to go away?

    Sounds like your just an Apple hater.
  • daridave, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1Yes, OK, thanks Mr. Obvious, but the bottom line is the sale still pretty much sucked. It's all about making money, yes -- but if you're going to advertise a sale, make it worth the peek, for cryin' out loud. If they didn't want to "lose" too much on the iPod/iPhones, they could have done an extra effort on the accessories. You know, those ***** things that you buy even if you don't need them or that you only need to use once in your life -- that's where sales get interesting. "I don't really need it, but I'd save XX$ off the regular price, so... OK I'll buy it!" is something I've seen happen many, many times. I'm even guilty, I have a battery pack for my iPhone I got on sale, "just in case"... and I haven't really ever had to use it yet (except for trying it), but hey, I saved money on it!!! Apple is just a greedy company, and this is a fine example!
  • Elranzer, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1DRM isn't iTunes' problem. The fact that they don't let you re-download your songs anytime you want is the problem. eMusic (and Amazon, I believe) allows you to do this, and they also don't have DRM.
  • benologist, on 12/02/2008, -2/+3Have you thought about emailing Apple? They whine about it but let you redownload your stuff anyway.
  • inactive, on 12/02/2008, -3/+4Are these the same "analysts" who were taken by surprise by today's announcement that WE'RE IN A RECESSION?

    Analysts have proven to be among the biggest dumb-***** on the planet. Stop referring to their output as anything but laughably discredited.
  • robzthird, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1Well, its still Apple.
  • drlha, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1So far. We have a long way to go.
  • MacParrot, on 12/02/2008, -1/+2Actually both the Zune (major software update over the last year) and the classic iPod line (nano, classic) have received updates this year. Can we not fight over trivial matters?
  • robzthird, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1Yes because not taking the time to fix you're vs. your means you can't read.
  • mrBitch, on 12/02/2008, -0/+1So far, it looks like the only effect of the recession on Apple is it's share price. Otherwise, Apple sales are WAY above the rest of it's competitors.
  • mrBitch, on 12/02/2008, -1/+2@kelly, correct and well said.

    @batmanz, if you don't care about it, so what? Because YOU don't care means WHAT to me?

    I don't have a problem if you don't care, but you assuming that this means anything special to anyone else... well that just calls you out as a dick head.
  • mrBitch, on 12/03/2008, -0/+1@ drlha RE: " So far. We have a long way to go. "

    Yes, but even if ALL SALES went through the floor TOMORROW... Even then, Apple is STILL way ahead just based on sales data NOW that indicate Apple is out performing ALL of it's competitors.
  • vivalavey9o, on 12/02/2008, -3/+3me too. those bastards only saved me $51.
  • kelly, on 12/02/2008, -6/+6Because Apple is growing faster than the rest of the industry these days.

    We care because everyone said that not only would Apple die soon but they said that the best Apple couyld ever hope for is to maintain their install-base. But Apple is doing what o many of us knew would happen... they're growing faster than the rest of the industry.
  • benologist, on 12/02/2008, -2/+2Sounds too high for per store... I doubt even the big chains like Best Buy are selling a computer every 4 1/2 minutes.
  • EnderMB, on 12/02/2008, -8/+8In some parts of America an iPod Touch would feed and clothe a family of four for a year.
  • drlha, on 12/02/2008, -3/+3What you mean like all consumer electronics in the world?
  • kingbyu, on 12/02/2008, -2/+1I bought an iPod Touch on Black Friday, but I didn't buy it from Apple. I found it cheaper at Amazon.com, especially when sales tax wasn't added into the price.

    Still, on a normal day, the local Sams Club sells the iPod touch cheaper than the Apple store does.
  • anon4031, on 12/02/2008, -3/+1suckers. All the iCrash does is phone.
  • jamauss, on 12/02/2008, -5/+3ok ok I get the idea already - stop picking on me! :-p

    I've just had DRM responsible for me losing some music in iTunes before, that's all.
  • superkendall, on 12/02/2008, -5/+3If the Zune updates aren't sidesteps, then the new firmware works on the older Zunes because... ?
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 53 of 53 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.