UPDATED 12:34 EDT / NOVEMBER 23 2010

Apple Works Through the Holidays, Including Black Friday

Apple was never too eager to revamp its efforts towards Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the U.S. where dozens of retailers take advantage of the yearly inventory purge. But lately they have been boosting their efforts to increase holiday sales, and meet demand. According to Taiwanese Digitimes magazine, Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn is increasing its iPad production capacity to manufacture an additional 10k units/day using its new Chengdu, China factories.

“Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is ramping up iPad production capacity to meet demand for the tablet over the holiday season… And once Chengdu’s 50 iPad production lines are up and running in 2011, Foxconn will be able to produce about 40 million iPads per year…”

Apple seems to proficiently appreciate the popularity of its tablet, but that doesn’t mean the company is overly enthusiastic about Black Friday itself.   It’s participation is seemingly haughty when compared to other retailers.  Sales these days don’t even wait until Black Friday, but instead begin as early as two weeks in advance.  The pattern has really begun to settle in these past two years, with the likes of Walmart and Amazon extending opportunities to take advantage of deep discounts.  Online commerce has made it easier to meet consumer demand around these trends.

Despite Apple’s hold-out until Black Friday, it maybe be compensating with a well-articulated “shop now-buy later”  teaser on their site, inviting you to pick the products you’ll research once Black Friday comes around.  No matter–the discounts aren’t expected to be very deep, considering Apple’s Black Friday sale last year.

Apple seems to show a growing willingness to make a broader appeal to customers and the mass-market overall, but despite that special pizzazz around high-end software and 3rd party accessories, a changed outlook from Apple may take some time to realize.


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