So Thanksgiving Day has come and gone, and it is now time to get your wallets out for some serious shopping! That's because Black Friday and Cyber Monday is now upon us. For those not in the know, Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving in the US, and is commonly regarded as the beginning of the Christmas season. Cyber Monday, on the other hand, is a marketing term for the Monday after the weekend to persuade people to shop online.
The concept behind this is simple: you get heavy discounts at most online retailers for a range of products, across categories. India also has its own version of this, called the Great Online Shopping Festival, which kicked off in 2012 and is slated to come our way either in the second week of December this year. While Black Friday and Cyber Monday is primarily a US-centric event, there are a lot of online retailers who have not forgotten the rest of the world, Indians included. We decided to take a look at some of the sweet deals.
Amazon rules the list of the best deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in terms of the sheer number of things on sale. The company says it has searched everywhere for the best deals and managed to beat all other retailers in terms of the price. Aspiring smartphone buyers can pick up a 32GB HTC One for $534 (Rs 33,370 approx), down from the usual $649 (Rs 40,560 approx) Amazon was earlier charging. You can also get a $135 discount on last year’s flagship Apple iPhone 5, which is now priced at $615 (Rs 38,490 approx). An unlocked 32GB iPhone 5s will now cost you $760 (Rs 47,580 approx), after a $439 discount, which is a decent discount on the Rs 53,500 price tag that Apple has placed on the device in India. Other high-end devices with discounts to their names are the Moto X, the Moto G, the Xperia Z1 and Samsung’s line-up, including the S3, the S3 mini and the S4 mini. You are also getting up to 25 percent discounts on accessories like cases, covers, Bluetooth speakers, headsets, car accessories and phone mounts.
Photography buffs can now pick up Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR with an 18-55mm IS II Lens for $399 (Rs 24,970 approx), down from the earlier $499. Another massive discount that we could see was on the Canon EOS 60D, which is now priced at $599 (Rs 37,490 approx), down by 33 percent from the earlier $899 price tag. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. You can get up to 60 percent off on select Philips portable speakers, up to 10 percent off on select Bose portable speakers as well as headsets. One deal that caught our eye was for the Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones, now available for $269 (Rs 16,830 approx), a slight drop from the $299 undiscounted price. And the deals also span MP3 players, speaker docks, wireless speakers, mounted kits.
Apple is also offering a bunch of deals at its online store. This time around, though, the company has opted to keep every Mac, iPad and iPod at its regular price. Instead of lowering the cost of its hardware, the company has opted instead to include Apple Store gift cards with select purchases. US customers, for instance, can get a $75 (Rs 4,680 approx) gift card on the $499 iPad Air. You can also get a $150 (Rs 9,380 approx) gift card on the $999 MacBook Air. The MacBook Pro and the Pro with Retina display will also net you a $150 gift card. Buting the Apple TV, the iPod touch, the iPod nano and the AirPort Time Capsule will get you gift cards ranging from $25 to $50. It doesn’t look like Apple is extending these offers to Indian users, though.
eBay
eBay India has brought Black Friday directly to Indian users. On November 29 and November 30, eBay has put up 1000 deals on technology products. The products will be available in INR and the price is inclusive of all import duties, international shipping and other applicable charges. On the international website, the iPad mini 32GB Wi-Fi can be picked up for $369 (Rs 23,090 approx), down from the $429 price tag sported before. The Asus VivoTab, originally priced at $349, is now available for $299 (Rs 18,710 approx). You can get the Xperia Z1 for $595 (Rs 37,240 approx), down from the original $999 price tag. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 can now be picked up for $626 (Rs 39,120 approx), down from the original $1,199 price point. All deals from the international eBay portal do not include shipping charges or import duties, and prospective customers should keep that in mind before making their purchases.
Samsung’s current flagship, the Galaxy S4, will set users back $569 (Rs 35,560 approx) instead of the original $1,289 you’d have had to shell out. HTC, BlackBerry, LG and other brands also come with discounts in tow. Computers such as the Asus TAICHI and the Dell Latitude E6410 among others come with discounts ranging from 4 percent to a mammoth 62 percent. Point-and-shoot cameras such as the Canon PowerShot ELPH 330 HS can now be picked up for $129 (Rs 8,070 approx) instead of $169, while the high-end Nikon D7100 DSLR can be picked up for $1,389 (Rs 86,810 approx) instead of the original $1,589 price tag.
Looking for smartphone deals on this online retailer won’t amount to much as the discounts seem a little dodgy. For example, the iPhone 5 16GB is currently being sold for Rs 39,665, down from a price tag of Rs 71,707. It is worth noting, though, that the iPhone 5 is no longer being sold officially and that price is almost as much as the newer iPhone 5c in the grey market. iBhejo is also selling older BlackBerry handsets (running BlackBerry 7) at a discount, so if you are stuck on a 'Berry and want an upgrade, you should look at some of the options on offer. Be that as it may, some of the tablet deals being offered did get our attention. The BlackBerry Playbook, for instance, is being sold at Rs 15,463. The Google Nexus 7 2013 edition can be picked up for Rs 17,762, down from the original Rs 20,999 price tag listed on the official India Google Play Store.
So there you have it. With Black Friday well underway and Cyber Monday just around the corner, we are certain to hear about more deals around the world across product categories. Spotted a deal worth mentioning? Tell us in the comments below.
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