Many people were hoping we would see some kind of amnesty or trade in program, since Apple decided to unveil its new iPad reboot at the event yesterday. Most were very surprised to see a full generation leap by the Cupertino company, rather than just a small tweak as most rumors suggested.
As welcome as the upgrade was, however, it probably ruffled a lot of feathers, specifically for folks who had already purchased a brand “new” iPad HD less than six months ago.
But according to the Apple Store on Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, you may be able to trade in your “recently” purchased iPad HD for a brand new 4th Generation iPad. I use the word recently, although its meaning is probably signifying a much smaller purchasing window than you are hoping. According to the store’s manager, anyone who purchased a 3rd generation iPad in the last 30 days is eligible for this trade-in. That’s considerably longer than the normal 14-day grace period offered by the store, but it still doesn’t help those of you who bought your iPad HD when it released.
They won’t just take your word for it either, you’re going to have to prove you purchased it less than a month ago, which means you’ll have to have a receipt or some kind or online voucher.
The other bad news is that this isn’t a corporate deal. It’s up to each individual store to decide whether or not they want to honor a similar plan, although it’s a safe bet to guess that stores in some of the more major cities will probably honor some kind of trade. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t start seeing wild “cash values” for trade-ins towards the purchase of a new 4th Generation iPad. So keep an eye out. Most of you that pre-ordered the iPad HD probably won’t get a new version for free, but you might get a considerable trade-in value towards purchasing a 4th Generation.
There has been some public outcry concerning the “quick” release with many customers upset that they spent so much money on an iDevice that they did not know would become obsolete only six months later. There hasn’t been much outside of general complaints though, and there hasn’t been any word from Apple if they plan on offering customers any kind of corporate incentive. For now it’s just a waiting game to see if more stores offer similar deals, but we can’t help feeling a little scorned.
How about you? Are you upset that Apple released a new generation of iPad so soon? Will you buy one? Let us know in the comments section below!
Photo Credit: zdnet.com
