I have to say, that's very unlikely in my estimation. 3.0 will come out and it'll be $10 or whatever it is they charge for current touch users to upgrade.
Apple pretty much without fail does an iPod upgrade shortly AFTER the back to school promo ends and in time for the holiday buying season (late September or October). The promo clears out stock of the previous generation. Once or twice they upgraded iPods while there were still a couple weeks left in the promo, but I distinctly recall new models not being a part of the promo.
The chances of your prediction being accurate are slim to none.
All new Touch units, however, will almost certainly be pre-loaded with 3.0, so thats at least one reason to wait if you'd rather not pay the $10 later to upgade. And while it may not be what Apple has done in the past in regards to the Back-to-School promo, given the current economy and that actual Mac sales are lagging, it would be in their interest to sweeten the deal and try to drive sales of higher margin Macs by upgrading the Touch. Thirdly, the Touch, like the iPhone, are primarily drivers for app sales, so again, an upgraded model could make sense. Fourth, Apple still has billions in the bank, they can afford to be more aggressive this year than previous.
Does any of that mean it will happen, no, but its not as slim of a possibility as you make it appear. As I said, give it two weeks and we'll probably know for sure.
...Apple pretty much without fail does an iPod upgrade shortly AFTER the back to school promo ends and in time for the holiday buying season (late September or October). The promo clears out stock of the previous generation. Once or twice they upgraded iPods while there were still a couple weeks left in the promo, but I distinctly recall new models not being a part of the promo.
The chances of your prediction being accurate are slim to none.
I agree with Flounder. I have been watching the Apple Back-to-School promos for years -- and buying Macs from time to time for my kids. Apple almost always upgrade the promo device right at the end of the promo period. The new models are sometimes released a day or several after the end of the promo period. Not sure if waiting till the last week of the promo on the hopes of Apple including an upgraded model will materialize, but based on history, no -- it will be the currently specified model(s).
And you are allowed to select an iPod Classic, Nano or Shuffle in lieu of the Touch model (assuming you already have too many Touches )
Since I have only bought some Macs through Back-to-school promo for when my kids were starting or into college, I don't remember if they ever included K-12 students.
Now the Mac I wish would be included in the group is the Mac mini -- as that looks to be the next most likely family purchase here...
I guess they think the price of the mini is too low and the value of the Touch too high comparatively?
But given the meagerness of the last Mac mini update (after 1.7 yr) and fact that price remained the same, I would say that it should be included as a qualifying Mac model.
This is indeed a good deal.. Problem for me is that I just bought a new macbook pro for school on May 13th... anyway I can still get a free ipod touch?
Apple today (or yesterday) launched Back-to-School promo in Europe as well, about five months earlier than it used to be. The funny thing is, while you actually get an 8GB iPod Touch for free in US after rebate, one still has to pay €30 for it after rebate, and they still claim get an iPod Touch for free.
The funny thing is, while you actually get an 8GB iPod Touch for free in US after rebate, one still has to pay ?30 for it after rebate, and they still claim get an iPod Touch for free.
It is exactly the same in US and EU. The difference is that the US Apple Store has the pricing without taxes and in EU the pricing is with taxes. In US you have to pay the taxes on the iPod Touch and in EU they give you up to ?185 and if you add 16% VAT it becomes the ?215 that costs a new iPod Touch.
I calculated the cost of getting a MacBook and an iPod Touch 32GB from Apple's website with the promotion versus getting it elsewhere without the promotion and I see that the cost will be roughly the same... I save maybe a few bucks using the promotion.
So this is my plan... I'm going to wait until Apple Refresh their MacBook AND iPod Touches, then I'll get it. I believe I'll get Snow Leopard, a refreshed MacBook, and an iPod Touch 64GB for roughly the same price as the currently running promotion for the highest Touch capacity.
You might ask, "How does buying it without the promotion cost you the same as with the promotion?" The answer is simple: I won't need to pay taxes if I don't buy from within the state where I live.
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I have to say, that's very unlikely in my estimation. 3.0 will come out and it'll be $10 or whatever it is they charge for current touch users to upgrade.
Apple pretty much without fail does an iPod upgrade shortly AFTER the back to school promo ends and in time for the holiday buying season (late September or October). The promo clears out stock of the previous generation. Once or twice they upgraded iPods while there were still a couple weeks left in the promo, but I distinctly recall new models not being a part of the promo.
The chances of your prediction being accurate are slim to none.
All new Touch units, however, will almost certainly be pre-loaded with 3.0, so thats at least one reason to wait if you'd rather not pay the $10 later to upgade. And while it may not be what Apple has done in the past in regards to the Back-to-School promo, given the current economy and that actual Mac sales are lagging, it would be in their interest to sweeten the deal and try to drive sales of higher margin Macs by upgrading the Touch. Thirdly, the Touch, like the iPhone, are primarily drivers for app sales, so again, an upgraded model could make sense. Fourth, Apple still has billions in the bank, they can afford to be more aggressive this year than previous.
Does any of that mean it will happen, no, but its not as slim of a possibility as you make it appear. As I said, give it two weeks and we'll probably know for sure.
...Apple pretty much without fail does an iPod upgrade shortly AFTER the back to school promo ends and in time for the holiday buying season (late September or October). The promo clears out stock of the previous generation. Once or twice they upgraded iPods while there were still a couple weeks left in the promo, but I distinctly recall new models not being a part of the promo.
The chances of your prediction being accurate are slim to none.
I agree with Flounder. I have been watching the Apple Back-to-School promos for years -- and buying Macs from time to time for my kids. Apple almost always upgrade the promo device right at the end of the promo period. The new models are sometimes released a day or several after the end of the promo period. Not sure if waiting till the last week of the promo on the hopes of Apple including an upgraded model will materialize, but based on history, no -- it will be the currently specified model(s).
And you are allowed to select an iPod Classic, Nano or Shuffle in lieu of the Touch model (assuming you already have too many Touches
So high school and elementary school students and their parents can't take advantage of this? Has it always been that way, or is that a change?
According to the posting , http://www.apple.com/promo/faq.html, it is higher education students/parents and any edu faculty.
Since I have only bought some Macs through Back-to-school promo for when my kids were starting or into college, I don't remember if they ever included K-12 students.
I guess they think the price of the mini is too low and the value of the Touch too high comparatively?
But given the meagerness of the last Mac mini update (after 1.7 yr) and fact that price remained the same, I would say that it should be included as a qualifying Mac model.
One can wish.........
I guess I should have waited a bit longer lol....
Thanks!
The funny thing is, while you actually get an 8GB iPod Touch for free in US after rebate, one still has to pay ?30 for it after rebate, and they still claim get an iPod Touch for free.
It is exactly the same in US and EU. The difference is that the US Apple Store has the pricing without taxes and in EU the pricing is with taxes. In US you have to pay the taxes on the iPod Touch and in EU they give you up to ?185 and if you add 16% VAT it becomes the ?215 that costs a new iPod Touch.
So this is my plan... I'm going to wait until Apple Refresh their MacBook AND iPod Touches, then I'll get it. I believe I'll get Snow Leopard, a refreshed MacBook, and an iPod Touch 64GB for roughly the same price as the currently running promotion for the highest Touch capacity.
You might ask, "How does buying it without the promotion cost you the same as with the promotion?" The answer is simple: I won't need to pay taxes if I don't buy from within the state where I live.