Apple’s Black Friday deals go live in US/Canada as third-party retailers offer even better discounts on Macs, iPads, iPods and accessories

Jordan Kahn

Apple’s Black Friday sales started going live online earlier today in a number of Apple Stores around the world, including: Australia, New Zealand, Germany, United Kingdom, and more. Now, Apple’s deals for the United States and Canada are live with the expected $100 in savings on MacBooks and smaller savings for iPads, iPods, and select accessories.

While Apple’s deals are in line with what we expected from previous years, most of these products can be found even cheaper through third-party retailers today. We have put together a list of all the Black Friday prices on the U.S. Apple Store below. Next to each item, you’ll also find the lowest price that we could find from third parties—most of which provided an even better deal than Apple:

-iPad with Retina display | From $458 (Save $41)
Best Price: BestBuy from $439
-iPad 2 | From $368 (Save $31)
Best Price: BestBuy from $339
Alternative Best Price option: eBay Daily Deals from $339 (16GB WiFi)
-iPod touch | From $268 (Save $31)
Best Price: Best Buy from $294+$50 gift card
-iPod touch 4th generation | From $178  (Save $21 )
Best Price: Best Buy from $194 +$50 gift card
-iPod nano | From $138 (Save $11)
Best Price: Best Buy from $144 + $20 gift card

-MacBook Pro with Retina Display | From $1,598 (Save $101)
Best Price: Amazon from $1,593
-MacBook Pro | From $1,098 (Save $101)
Best Price: Amazon from $1,024
-MacBook Air | From $898 (Save $101)
Best Price: Amazon from $893

Check our Apple Product pages for the lowest prices across the board as well as 9to5Toys.com for the latest updates. More Apple comparisons coming, below: Read more

Apps & Updates

Black Friday Mac & iOS deals, Amazon Mobile, Street Fighter X Tekken, HSN Holiday Gift Store, Fab.com, more

Jordan Kahn

News:

Black Friday iOS deals: A ton of app developers are offering app deals to celebrate Black Friday and Thanksgiving. 9to5Toys.com has an updating list of Mac and iOS deals being offered. Some of the deals on offer: BioShock 2 for $11.99, Call of Duty 4 for $7.99, and the just updated Street Fighter X Tekken for 99 cents.

GTA Vice City 10th Anniversary: We already knew it was coming soon, but today Rockstar confirmed the 10th anniversary edition of Vice City will hit the App Store on December 6th for $4.99. (via Polygon)

Updates:

Amazon Mobile version 2.3.1: A nice update for the Amazon Mobile app today, just in time for the holiday shopping season, brings the ability to receive push notifications on iPhone, iPod, and iPad when packages are shipped and delivered. You can also enable a daily notification for lightning deals. Also, iPad users can now “pinch (or double tap) to zoom in on product images and see more details.”

· Stay up to date on where your holiday gifts and packages are with delivery alerts. Turn on push notifications to get alerts on when your package ships from Amazon and when it’s delivered. Plus get a daily notification for lightning deals.
· Pinch (or double tap) to zoom in on product images and see more details.(iPad only)
· Bug fixes and performance improvements.

Street Fighter X Tekken Mobile: Capcom’s Street Fighter X Tekken (on sale for 99 cents, below), is getting two new characters today (pictured above), as well as enhancements to fine tune the game balance and improve Wi-Fi matches:

Changes:
- Two new characters have been added.
- The game balance has been fine tuned.
- Wi-fi matches now play better.

HSN for iPad version 5.0.3: HSN’s app has been updated with a new holiday gift store and deals: Read more

iMacs delayed until 2013? Update: Nope

Seth Weintraub

Update: Our own Mark Gurman seems to have put the kibosh on this one.

French language website MacBidouille claims to have some bad news from its retail sources. While they were expecting to see iMacs arrive Nov. 27 (we also heard a similar time frame—with availability beginning around Black Friday) for the 21.5-inchers and later in December for the 27-inchers, both may now miss the all-important holiday shopping season.

The source blames a welding process for the delays, which would push the iMacs into 2013. The new iMacs also have a redesigned display that features a new thinner lamination process.

We first noted the delays in new iMac production in October and questioned whether the devices would be announced at the iPad mini event. Interestingly, we also heard that Apple might introduce an updated Thunderbolt Display in the not-so distant future that may be tied to the launch of the 27-inch iMac. Stay tuned for more information on that soon.

Read more

Did the Kindle outsell the iPad at Best Buy last weekend?

Seth Weintraub

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Some are saying that just because the Kindle sits atop the BestBuy.com “Best Selling” tablets category, it is outselling the iPad 2.

Not so fast.

There is exactly one model of Kindle Fire, while there are about 16 models of iPad, two of which are second and third on the list and iPads make up a majority of the top 15 list.  Did number 1 outnumber #2+#3+#5+#6…?

Could the Fire be the top selling tablet at Best Buy still?  Sure (unlikely), but there is no way to tell from the data provided.

And that’s before you get the to the whole $199, making money on the razor blades business model. Read more

20% off $50 iTunes gift cards

9to5 Staff

Best Buy has had $100 iTunes gift cards (both online and physical) for $80 since Black Friday but they’ve just opened up $50 gift cards for $40.  iTunes gift cards make great gifts and can be used on Music, Videos, iBooks, iOS Apps  and Mac Apps.If you buy two, you can additional $10 Best Buy Gift Card free if you pick them up in store.

Check out other holiday deals on Apple products here and on 9to5Toys.com Read more

Black Friday App Store sale guide- The best deals on iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps

Jordan Kahn

We already know about all of the excellent Black Friday deals popping up in our live price guide– like an 11” MacBook Air for $849.99, and this 13″ 2.4GHz MacBook Pro for $1050. In addition to all of the great hardware on sale, almost all of the biggest iOS app publishers are running Thanksgiving and Black Friday promotions too. There’s also some great Mac App Store apps on sale. We’ve compiled the best of the best… Read more