Apple's Back to School promo starts this week: no free iPod… $100 iTunes card instead

Apple will start their annual Back to School promotion this week, possibly Wednesday, but this year will feature a major twist. In year’s past, Apple’s Back to School promotion offered students their usual educational discount plus a free iPod with any purchase of a Mac. This year, 9to5Mac has been told, will be very different. In fact, Apple will not be offering free iPods during this promotion but will instead offer a $100 iTunes gift card.

Apple usually begins their Back to School promotion approximately three months prior to their annual fall music-related event. This Back to School promotion usually serves a way for Apple to clear out their iPod inventory ahead of an early September refresh for the lineup. Given that iPods will not be in this years Back to School promotion, we are not too sure what to think about this fall’s iPod upgrade situation.

Update: Just to clarify: when I say $100 iTunes card, I mean a gift card that works on Apple’s iTunes Store and App Store as all iTunes cards, no matter how they are marketing, work in both stores. Even the iBookstore.

//