MacBlogz – One Stop Apple News - Bridging the Apple Community and Keeping Tabs on the Rumor Mill.

Apple Retail Stores Will Now Match Competitors’ Prices [U] Confirmed

ifoAppleStore explains that Apple Retail managers will now have the ability to approve special deals “on-the-spot.”

Apple will now match the price of their products, if offered for less by a competing retailer. Up until this point, Apple retail managers have not had authority to give discounts on Apple’s products.

Apple has apparently fired the first shot in the holiday shopping battle, by announcing internally that retail store employees have the authority to match the prices of other authorized retailers. The stores have also cancelled all regular presentations on Black Friday, posted holiday buying tips have on Apple’s retail Web page, and created a special iPhone 3G gift card to help bolster holiday sales. Up to now, the stores have not given managers the ability to approve certain “deals,” but there has been no general price matching policy. As well, Apple traditionally never discounts its products except on Black Friday. It’s not clear if the pricing matching will be publicly announced through advertising or Apple’s retail Web pages. The price flexibility does come with some restrictions, including the customer supplying proof of the competitor’s pricing.

Other big box retailers offer similar deals where, if customers find the same product for less, they’ll match or beat the price. As noted above, Apple does not regularly discount their products, so this does come as a welcome surprise. [via MacDailyNews]

Updates: Ars has been able to confirm the information with Apple. There is indeed a new policy in effect aimed at price matching with other resellers. The policy doesn’t just cover Apple products like Macs, iPods and iPhones – hard drives, Macbook backpacks and other accessories are covered as well.