Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Offers Impressive Discount and more on AMZN, WMT, TGT

The official holiday and shopping season, heralded by the shopping frenzy known as Black Friday has started off early in the United States and companies have not been behind in taking advantage of it.

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) kicked off its deals for Black Friday with attractive discounts on its iPads, MacBooks, earlier versions of the iPod Touch, iPod Nano and other accessories.

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According to Pocket-lint, "headline price cuts include £81 off all MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, including the 15-inch and new 13-inch versions of the latter with Retina display."

While there is no discount available on the iPad Mini, the company is offering discounts up to 10 percent on the new, fourth-generation iPad, depending on the original price and the storage capacity. These discounted prices are however valid only for today, that is Nov. 23.

Online retailers like Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) started its Black Friday deals early and Pocket-lint says that it has been running these deals all week, with new products being released every hour on a limited basis.

Reuters reported that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.(NYSE:WMT)’s U.S. discount stores offered some "Black Friday" deals at 8 p.m. local time on Thursday and special deals on certain electronics, like Apple Inc. iPads, at 10 p.m.

The earlier hours are luring more shoppers, who feel that they have more chances of getting good deals.

Retailers like Target Corporation(NYSE:TGT) and Toys R Us have also moved their openings earlier on Thanksgiving night.

The National Retail Federation forecast a 4.1 percent increase in retail sales during the November-December holiday period this year, down from a 5.6 percent increase seen in 2011.