Staples for Black Friday 2014 will not only be offering deep discounts on older iPads, but will let you buy them via Apple Pay at some 1,400 retail locations.
Staples otherwise isn't putting Apple products front and center. In promoting the top 10 gift trends for this holiday shopping season, Staples never even mentions any Apple wares, instead highlighting Jawbone and Fitbit wearables, and Asus and Samsung tablets.
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The Apple offerings that Staples is marking down for its Black Friday sale include:
*A 16GB iPad Air with WiFi connectivity for $319, which is $80 off the usual price.
*A 16GB iPad mini 2 with WiFi for $239, which is $60 off the regular price.
*An iPad with Retina display for $279, which is $70 off.
*Apple TV for $79, which is $20 off.
There's no mention of newer models, such as the iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 or iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. The latest Apple smartphones are for sale at numerous other retailers for Black Friday, including Best Buy and Target.
Non-Apple product deals include Amazon Fire HD 6 and 7 tablets, going for $49 and $109, respectively. An eye catcher: A bare-bones Asus 11.6-inch laptop running Windows 8.1 and boasting a 32GB flash storage drive for just $99, a $150 markdown.
Staples will open on Thanksgiving at 6pm where allowed, and on Black Friday at 6am.
Apple typically keeps a pretty tight rein on retailers' promotions, but they often find a way around these restrictions by bundling phones with gift cards and other goodies.
Apple, not known for marking down its products frequently, has gotten into the habit of offering Black Friday price breaks itself. It usually can be counted on to knock about $100 off Macs and $50 off iPads (it's less clear what it might offer in the way of iPhone savings).
We'll be rounding up some of the more eye-catching Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals for this season (here's a sampling of last year's deals).