Apple's Black Friday Statement

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's really not even worth mentioning what Apple (AAPL) did on Black Friday last year. Unless I look it up, I can't be sure of the particulars: $100 off a Mac? $60 off an iPad? Something like that.

Apple doesn't do meaningful discounts.

It floats the aforementioned "sale" from time to time. It reduces the price of old iPhones when a new model comes out, and offers deals alongside its education pricing.

For example, when I bought my MacBook Pro with Retina Display, I did it under my wife's name because she works in education. I think I saved $100 or $200 on the laptop. Apple also threw in a $100 gift card for the Apple Store. It was a Back to School promo.

I don't expect much, if anything, to change. Apple has no reason to shock us, make headlines or reinvent the pinwheel on Black Friday. That better not change this year.

Everybody loves Apple, wants it products and is entranced by the lifted skirt and perfumed inner thigh of its dominance.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Steve Jobs was nothing but a distant memory. Tim Cook did things Jobs never would have done -- issued a dividend/buyback, published a genuine apology letter, churned out an iPad mini -- and the world shot you down if you questioned the moves, let alone made comparisons between the two CEOs.

AAPL drops a hundred bucks and, suddenly, Cook v. Jobs not only becomes fair game, it's a commonplace analysis.

This is the work of Johnny-come-lately analysts. The types who hit the news feeds Wednesday morning with downgrades and price target reductions on Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Best Buy (BBY).

I don't expect Cook to do anything out of the ordinary for Black Friday. If he does, Apple really has changed, and not for the better.

Apple. Lululemon (LULU). Tesla Motors (TSLA). Starbucks (SBUX). Whole Foods Market (WFM).

With broad use of the term "retailers," these outfits are the retailers of the decade, if not the century.

While resellers go as low as Apple will allow on the company's products, Apple has pricing power. While stores have to bundle gift cards -- not just as an education perk -- with Amazon.com (AMZN) and Google (GOOG) tablets, Apple has pricing power.

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