Apple is no stranger to controversy, but this particular tale was especially strange. Earlier this week, a woman named Diane Campbell went into an Apple store to purchase an iPad. When she tried to pay with cash, she was told that Apple wasn't accepting cash payments for iPads.
Apple is no stranger to controversy, but this particular tale was especially strange. Earlier this week, a woman named Diane Campbell went into an Apple store to purchase an iPad. Campbell is disabled and lives on a fixed income, and over the course of a few weeks, she dilligently saved up enough money to afford an iPad – $600.
She walked into a California Apple Store, selected the iPad she wanted, and was shocked to find out that her cash was no good there. That’s right, her cash was no good. As it turns out, the iPad is such a hot commodity that Apple instituted a rule whereby customers can only purchase two devices. The rule preventing payment via cash is merely Apple’s way of ensuring that no one skirts around Apple’s rule.
Speaking to reporters, Campbell explained her predicament:
It took quite a long time for me to just save up this small amount of money to go down and purchase one. I had my cash in the backpack and I went up proudly to the counter and told them, ‘I would like to purchase an iPad.’
They said, ‘Sorry, we don’t take cash.’ And, so I looked at her and I said OK she’s kidding.
Only this wasn’t a joke.
With the going rate for iPads overseas often exceeding 3x and 4x the initial purchase price, acquiring iPads in bulk can be quite the lucrative business. So while Apple understandably wants to prevent a blackmarket for iPads, critics lambasted Apple for not taking into account low income consumers who may not necessarily have an easy time acquiring credit cards.
While Apple initially refused to cave, it appears that the company so often labeled as “evil” isn’t all that bad. Apple Senior VP of Retail, Ron Johnson, recently explained that customers who set up an Apple account will now be able to purchase an iPad with cash.
Speaking to KGO-TV in San Francisco, Johnson stated:
About a month ago, we said we’d like you to use a credit card when you buy your iPad, and that was the best way we could think of to make sure that people only bought two per individual. And then it came to our attention that Diane [Campbell], through your story, was very interested in buying an iPad with cash, and we made a decision today to change that.
We heard about this, you know… we all would love people like Diane [Campbell] to get an iPad, so I called her up and she was very excited and we’re actually on our way to deliver an iPad to her house.
So in the end, Apple not only changed its no-cash iPad policy, but it gave Diane Campbell an iPad free of charge.
Problem solved.
