iPad added to Apple’s back-to-school promotion

Apple has launched its annual back-to-school promotion, offering $100 gift cards to customers who buy a qualifying Mac and $50 to those who purchase a third-generation iPad.
As it did last year, Apple will honor those iTunes gift cards at the company’s digital content markets, including the Mac App Store, iOS App Store, iBookstore and iTunes store, where customers can purchase software, apps, textbooks and music.
The iPad is new to the program, which previously had only applied to Mac notebooks and desktops.
This year’s promotion, which runs through Sept. 21, gives current college students and incoming freshmen, parents buying for a college student, and teachers and staff members of all grade levels — including K-12 — the $100 gift card when they buy a new iMac, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Refurbished Macs and the Mac Mini do not qualify.
Apple will award a $50 gift card to those who purchase one of the new iPads, the third-generation tablet the company launched last March. iPad 2s, which Apple still sells at a $100 discount, are ineligible.