iPod vending machines now in U.S. retail outlets
iPod vending machines aren’t new. They’ve been spotted in Japan, where just about everything (farm fresh eggs, hot ramen, etc.) can be purchased via vending machine. And since late 2005 they’ve been seen in airports, places where visitors can be trapped for hours on end looking for a gift or diversion.
But iPod vending machines have now moved into U.S. retail outlets. The photo above was snapped at a Macy’s department store at the Arden Fair mall in Sacramento, Calif. — the same Arden Fair that has had an Apple Retail Store for a couple of years. Perhaps some Macy’s shoppers don’t want to walk through the rest of the mall to get their hands on an iPod, or maybe they just don’t want to have to deal with an employee at the checkout counter.
You can see in the photo there is a “10%-50% off Summer Sale” but that is on select third-party iPod cases and accessories sold in the machine, not Apple products. Don’t ever get your hopes up that Apple would mark anything down by 50 percent.
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#1 J Phill says:I’ve seen these for quite some time at the local mall near me, though I’ve never seen someone actually buy an iPod from one of them. They’re pretty cool though.
#2 Julio says:These are cool, but not supernew in the States, they’ve been around for a year or more.
#3 Noel says:Yup, the Macys in Old Orchard Mall (Chicagoland) has had one for a couple years now.
#4 Jason Terhorst says:… as did the Macy’s in Woodfield.
Old news.
#5 Steve says:Uhmm these has been at the Easton Mall in Central Ohio for 1.5-2 years now?..
-Steve
#6 Ken says:I think most Macy’s in Northern California have had them for awhile now. The Mens store in the Walnut Creek store has had theirs since Christmas ‘05, i think. Looks just like the one at SF Airport.
They also sell some nice accessories too. When the Apple store a few blocks away ran out of Nano armbands, they had them in any color you wanted. Now all we need is a iPhone vending machine….
#7 Paulo says:They are not brand new in the U.S., there has been at the South Coast Plaza Macy’s Home store in Costa Mesa, CA (southern CA) for more than a year, close to 2 years.
So I am seeing a trend here, Macy’s has these machines.
#8 Mrad says:Is this good for the Apple brand and experience? Most (if not all) of the things I see in vending machines are ordinary and unexciting. Seeing iPods sitting in a vending machine just isn’t as good as seeing them in a store. It just says “hey, I’m everywhere”.
But man, I wish I had the dough to drop $75 - $350 at a vending machine.
#9 Antoine Valot says:Apple is marking many refurbished items down, sometimes by more than 50%, at the online apple store.
#10 Ken says:Apple is marking many refurbished items down, sometimes by more than 50%, at the online apple store.
Sssshhh! Don’t tell everyone.
I’m checking that area every time I need something now. Got a refurbished Mac Mini and a Nano (both have worked flawlessly) and now I see they are selling accessories at a discount.Brenthaven bags for 50% off is a deal.
#11 Michael says:Also in the SFO domestic and international terminals. In the Macy’s Womens store in downtown SF since at least 2005. I purchased a pair of earbuds from the SFO domestic machine when I realized that I didn’t have headphones for a cross country flight.
#12 Bob says:There’s been one in my supermarket for about a year and a half, maybe more. This shouldn’t be tagged “news”
#13 Rachel says:Ipod is the best. I love mine and would never trade it for anything.
http://www.needbattery.com/Mp3-Players/Apple.html
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