The AppAdvice week in review: Gearing up for Black Friday with Apple Pay
Have you started shopping for the holidays? No? What’s wrong with you. This year, it’s not really Black Friday, but rather Black November.
Here are just a few of the stories that we covered this week:
Black What?
Black Friday used to signal the start of the holiday shopping season. Not anymore. Black Friday deals are starting earlier each year, much to the annoyance of some retail employees.
This week, Walmart announced sales that will begin a week before Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Best Buy and Target have announced Black Friday deals that begin early on Thanksgiving morning.
Among the deals on Apple products (all on Thanksgiving):
- $100 off the iPad Air 2 at Best Buy
- A free $140Target gift card with any iPad Air 2 purchase
- A pair of Beats Wireless On-Ear headphones for $149, or $130 off.
Too late for you? Amazon’s Black Friday deals actually started at the beginning of November.
The Apple Pay footprint continues to grow
Whole Foods, McDonald’s, and Walgreens are experiencing significant sales gains since implementing Apple Pay. At the same time, other retailers are now signing up for the month-old mobile payment service.
This week, grocery chains Winn-Dixie and BI-LO began accepting Apple Pay, as did Staples. Perhaps more importantly, Apple Pay could soon be arriving in mainland China by way of Alibaba.
Link roundupSome of our most popular articles from the past week are as follows:
- YouTube Music Key beta launches with ad-free music, background playback and offline viewing
- Sprint to offer ‘iPad for Life’ leasing plan for iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 starting Nov. 14
- Apple’s partner chipmakers reportedly ‘gearing up’ production for Apple Watch
- Telltale reveals first details of its upcoming game based on HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’