On Tuesday (November 15th), well-known Apple whistleblower Mark Gurman said that in order to stimulate sales of Mac computers, Apple rarely provided promotions to small businesses.
Mark Gurman has heard from inside Apple and with retail employees that businesses that buy 5 to 24 MacBook Pros of any model will get an 8 percent discount, and businesses that buy 25 or more at a time will get a 10 percent discount.
In its marketing materials, Apple calls the new promotion a “very special Mac event,” with deals running until December 24.
Recently, the company’s sales staff have also begun to contact related companies to inquire about their interests. Some small businesses responded that they rarely received calls from Apple’s promotional activities before, and they also found it very strange.
Gurman also pointed out that the magnitude of the price cuts is highly unusual, as discounts of 8% to 10% in previous years are usually limited to large corporate customers, or reflect that the company foresees significant headwinds in reviving sales.
The global PC market is currently suffering from a severe winter. Last month, Apple warned in its financial report that sales of Mac computers may not perform well during the US holiday shopping season.
In addition to the discounts, Apple is touting its computer “trade-in” program. This is reminiscent of the series of promotional operations Apple launched for the iPhone XR in 2018. As a result, iPhone XR sales were far below expectations, making it the Waterloo in the company’s history.
In addition to bolstering MacBook Pro sales, Gurman thinks Apple may want to clear some inventory of older models before new ones arrive. It follows news that Apple is expected to release M2-based 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros in the first few months of 2023.
