Apple retail locations across Japan have kicked off the "Fukubukuro," i.e. the much-touted "Lucky Bags" promotion on Friday, Jan. 2.
For those unfamiliar with this little tradition, Apple's Lucky Bags promotion offers an array of iDevices at a steep discount. The bags are sealed and customers who choose to participate in this promotion don't know what they'll get exactly, but the products included in the bag are typically much cheaper than they would be if purchased separately, at their regular retail price. In other words, customers take a risk, but the outcome is usually rewarding.
Japanese blog Mac Otakara reported (translation) on this year's Fukubukuro after discovering the exact content of various bags sold at an Apple Store in Nagoya Sakael. As expected, the promotion included big-value items such as iPads and MacBooks.
Just like in other years, Apple put together four different configurations for this year's Lucky Bags promotion, and priced each bag at 36,000 yen ($300). Common items included Apple TVs, 4,000 mAh Mophie Powerstation external battery packs, iTunes gift cards, Incase Icon backpacks, as well as Beats Powerbeats 2 wireless earbuds.
High-ticket items, meanwhile, included 11-inch MacBook Air laptops with Power Support Air Jackets and Twelve South PlugBug dual chargers, as you can see in the image above. Other lucky customers found fifth-generation iPods Touch 16GB in their bags, or 16GB iPads Mini 3, or 16GB iPads Air 2. Logitech's UE Boom portable speaker was also part of the promotion.
Apple's Lucky Bags promotion has turned out to be very popular in recent years, as it allows iFans to get neat items at notable discounts. Not everyone may be as lucky as to get a new MacBook, for instance, but the items included in the bag are nonetheless cheaper when bundled like this.
It's worth pointing out, however, that customers cannot return a bag or some of the bag's content just because they're not satisfied with what they got. As previously mentioned, this whole promotion involves a little risk, and returns are only allowed if the products are defective.
Apple's Lucky Bags promotion, aka Fukubukuro, is available only at Apple Stores in Japan. The promotion is not valid online, nor in any other markets.
