Best Buy takes $100 off iPad Air 2, $75 off iPad mini 3 tablets for Black Friday 2014

Summary: The retailer has the best deals on iPads so far, plus at least $100 off Microsoft Surface 2 and 3 tablets.
 

While tech buyers have increasingly abandoned Best Buy over the years as online shopping has increased in popularity, it's still the bellweather for Black Friday deals on PCs and tablets, especially for mainstream consumers. This year, it managed to avoid an early leak of its deals, and has just launched its ad on its website. Look for the laptop and desktop sales in a separate post; we'll cover the tablets here.
 
The thing that jumps out at you first about Best Buy's ad is its iPad sales are the most aggressive to date. While Sam's Club dropped the price on the older iPad Air, and Target is resorting to store gift cards as a reward for buying the Apple tablets at full price, Best Buy is actually selling new iPads at discounted prices. One is a doorbuster, however, so quantities may be limited: the new iPad Air 2 will be sold for $100 off starting at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving when the retailer's doors open. It appears that the deal -- which is for any iPad Air 2, not just the base 16GB model -- will be good online all Thanksgiving day, which points to the increasing importance of multichannel sales this holiday shopping season.
 
Best Buy will also take $75 off the price of the new iPad mini 3, with the 16GB version running $324.99 through November 29. Finally, there will be an additional sale the weekend before Black Friday where the retailer will have a first-generation iPad Air special, though you'll have to wait until November 20 to find out just how much less they will cost during that weekend.
 
Those looking for a Microsoft Surface rather than an iPad are also being catered to, with $150 lopped off the price of the Surface 2 models as a doorbuster (like the 32GB version for $299.99) and either $100 or $150 off 128GB or larger Surface 3 tablets, depending on the model. (Best Buy doesn't provide specifics.) There are also a couple of "unbranded" Windows slates being advertised, a 10.1-inch one available for $149.99 or with a detachable keyboard for $199.98.
 
Finally, Android lovers can select tablets from a range of price points, from a 7-inch Asus MeMo Pad with Intel processor for $99.99 to a 10.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S with 32GB of storage for $449.99, or $100 off. The 8.4-inch Galaxy Tab Pro for $199.99 appears to be an especially good deal, as it's not only $100 less than the usual Best Buy, but $200 less than the current price on the Samsung website. Like some other retailers, Best Buy is also reducing the price of Amazon's cheapest Kindle Fire HD -- the 6-inch 8GB version -- by $20 to $79.99 for Black Friday.
 
~ Sean Portnoy

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AT&T will lock universal Apple SIM if you activate on their network

 

During Apple’s recent iPad media event, the company was quick to glance over a feature that could have massive implications on the wireless industry. Those who purchase a cellular version of the iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 3 will receive what’s called the Apple SIM.
 
Essentially, it’s a universal SIM card that works with a variety of wireless carriers. It eliminates the hassle of having to switch SIM cards each time you want to use your device on a different network (while traveling or in areas where service is poor on a certain carrier but better on another, for example).
 

 

Instead, you simply select the cellular data account you want to use in the setting menu.
 
Apple lists AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile as participating carriers in the US although early user reports suggest AT&T isn’t exactly playing by the rules.
 
Multiple users have noted that once you activate the Apple SIM on AT&T’s network, it can only be used on AT&T’s network and you’ll need a new Apple SIM if you want to change carriers in the future. Or in other words, AT&T is basically eliminating the entire point of the new SIM technology.
 
Apple has acknowledged this behavior in a new support document, highlighting the fact that AT&T dedicates Apple SIM to their network only and that you’ll need to buy a new Apple SIM if you want to use your iPad on another carrier.
 
When asked why they're locking the SIM card to their network, AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel said it's just simply the way they've chosen to do it.
 
At this point, there’s no evidence that suggests other carriers are planning to do the same.
 
~ Shawn Knight

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Apple's new iPads sport modest upgrades but short on 'wow'

Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing speaks during a presentation at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 16, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

 

(Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) faster, slimmer iPads come with modest improvements, such as a fingerprint sensor, but some analysts say it offers few other features to wow consumers ahead of a holiday shopping season expected to be swamped by mobile devices.
 
At a launch event on Thursday, Chief Executive Tim Cook called Apple's new line-up, which includes a new iMac computer with a "5K retina" or high-end display, the company's best ever. But analysts say Apple may struggle to arouse the same passion for its tablets as in past years among consumers faced with an abundance of hand-held, touch-screen devices. 
 

Apple CEO Tim Cook holds an iPad during a presentation at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 16, 2014.

Credit: REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

  

"I've got to be honest and say, the only impressive thing was the 5K retina display on the iMac," said Gartner analyst Van Baker, who attended the show at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California. "The other things we saw (included) just iterative improvements on the iPad."
 
Marketing chief Phil Schiller called the larger tablet the world's slimmest and described several new features such as an anti-reflective screen. He also confirmed the inclusion of the "Touch ID" sensor, already available on the latest iPhones.
  

Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing speaks during a presentation of the new iPad at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 16, 2014.

Credit: REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

  

Pre-orders start Friday for the larger iPad Air 2, priced at $499 and up, with shipping beginning next week. The smaller iPad mini 3 will be about $100 cheaper.
 
The new iMac, which sports the new "Yosemite" operating system, will go for $2,499.
 
Tablet sales are set to rise only 11 percent this year, according to tech research firm Gartner, compared to 55 percent last year, even as smartphone sales continue to soar and personal computer sales are waning. 
 
DEFINING MOMENT
 
Tablet sales for Apple, which defined the category with the iPad just four years ago, have fallen for two straight quarters. Investors remain focused on the iPhone, Apple's main revenue generator, but a prolonged downturn in iPad sales would threaten about 15 percent of the company's revenue.
 
The new iPads will go up against recently introduced tablets from Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Google Inc (GOOG.O) in coming months. Shares of Apple slid 1 percent to $96.57 shortly before the close.
 

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the Apple Pay service during a presentation at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California October 16, 2014.

Credit: REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

  

Apple also said it will launch its new electronic payments service on Monday, after the iPhone maker signed up another 500 banks to support a feature that competes with eBay Inc's (EBAY.O) PayPal and other online systems.
 
Cook said developers were beginning to design apps for its upcoming Watch.
 
Apple last month introduced the Watch, its first new device since the iPad in 2010. The company's entry into the rapidly expanding wearable computing arena will be available only from 2015, but Cook said software development kits for the device will be available from November.
 
Missing on Thursday was a larger, 12-inch-plus iPad, the subject of industry speculation ahead of Apple's event.
 
"It is disappointing, particularly to enterprise buyers, that there wasn't a 12.9 inch iPad model," said Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder. "To return iPad to high growth, form factor innovation will be required. We'll have to wait until 2015 to see if Apple addresses this issue."           
 
~ Christina Farr

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Apple announces iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3: Faster, thinner designs; Touch ID included

Summary: Apple let slip that it had two new iPads to unveil a little sooner than it would've liked, but still had a few tablet-related surprises up its sleeve.
 

(Image: Apple live stream)

Apple had a surprise (two, in fact) up its sleeve for Thursday's event, but let slip a little earlier than it would've liked.
 
At an event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, the technology giant revealed — technically for the second time this week — the iPad Air 2, and the iPad mini 3.
 
Why for the second time? Because on Wednesday it accidentally published a new user guide which leaked details of the two new full-sized and shrunk-down tablets.
 
Starting with the full-sized but super thin iPad Air 2, it sports an improved 9.7-inch Retina display. It also lands with an anti-reflective coating, making it about 56 percent less reflective to outdoor conditions.
 
According to Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller, it's 18 percent thinner than its predecessor at just 6.1 millimeters — and thinner than a pencil.
 
"It's the world's thinnest tablet," Schiller said.
 
It also lands with an improved 64-bit A8X processor — so about 40 percent faster than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus — for those intensive large-display apps. Graphics are now 180 times faster than the original tablet, Schiller said. The new A8X chip also includes an M8 processor, which supplies walking, running, and climb data.
 
The rear-facing camera has been improved, now able to take 8-megapixel photos and 1080p video, and the front-facing FaceTime camera has a 1.2-megapixel sensor for 720p high-definition video calling.
 
LTE networking has also been improved, allowing for up to 150Mbps. The battery life, however, remains at 10 hours.
 

(Image: Apple live stream)

But the flagship feature, just as it was with the iPhone 5s, is the addition of the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
 
It took Apple a little longer to port the long-awaited security feature over to its tablet range, but it's now included as standard on its tablet line-up for the coming holiday season.
 
It's available at $499 for the base 16GB Wi-Fi only version. The 4G LTE version enabled costs a little more at $599 on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
 
The new tablet, which lands with iOS 8.1, is available October 17 for pre-order in silver, space grey, and for the first time in gold, as previously rumored.
 
For those who aren't willing to shell out for a full-priced iPad Air, the slimmed down 7.9-inch iPad mini 3 is a little cheaper at $399 for the base 16GB Wi-Fi version. The 4G LTE enabled costs a little more at $529 on selected U.S. carriers.
 
Like its larger sibling, the iPad mini 3 comes with Touch ID.
 
~ Zack Whittaker

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