Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Apple wants to buy your old iPad

Jennifer Collins Mar 16, 2012

Jeremy Hobson: Well forget the new iPad. What about the old one that some people just forked over hundreds of dollars to buy?

Here’s Marketplace’s Jennifer Collins.


Jennifer Collins: Apple is offering in some cases more than $300 to people who turn in their old iPads. Roger Kay of Endpoint Technologies says that’s designed to lure people who think the new device sounds cool.

Roger Kay: But in some sense, it’s not a quantum difference in experience. And so someone who has an existing one might say, yeah, I’d like a nicer picture, but I’m OK with this one.

The new iPad will run you at least $500. Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin says the store credits give Apple a way to reward returning customers without going down market.

Tim Bajarin: Apple really doesn’t do discounting. No, it’s a loyalty credit, absolutely.

Bajarin says Apple will refurbish the old iPads and may resell them in places like China, South American and Africa where new iPads are extremely expensive. 

Bajarin: But if you take these refurbished ones, it introduces another layer of the population in these other countries.

And potentially creates even more loyal Apple fans.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.