Target is offering at least $200 in store credit to customers who trade in any undamaged iPad, no matter how old, an attention-getting promotion that coincides with Apple Inc.'s release of a new full-sized iPad and an iPad price cut by rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The offer was disclosed on the Minneapolis-based retailer's website and in advertising circulars this week.
At Target stores that sell mobile devices, employees will appraise the value of individual iPads and issue a "$200 minimum promotional credit" on a Target gift card that can be redeemed at any Target store. "To be eligible for trade-in, the iPad must power on and the screen must not be scratched," Target said on its website.
The offer extends to the first-generation iPad, which went on sale in 2010, and typically nets a consumer about $65 in trade-in value at other electronics websites and resellers.
Those who apply the $200 to the newest entry-level iPad, the iPad Air Wi-Fi model with 16 gigabytes of storage, could buy the device for $279, down from its listed price of $479.
Both Target and Apple were forced to match Wal-Mart's decision to sell the entry-level iPad at $479 on Friday, the day it was released. Apple had set the list price at $499.
Wal-Mart on Friday also pulled forward by several weeks discounts on other tablets and TVs that were originally reserved for the day after Thanksgiving and early December, the Associated Press reported.
The move was seen as another sign that retailers are aggressively seeking to get the attention of holiday shoppers early, partly because there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than there were last year.
