Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Cutting International Pricing to Rebalance Currency Conversion Rates?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,456
30,667



9 to 5 Mac reports that it is receiving word from some international third-party retailers that some of the new machines reportedly being released tomorrow are carrying reduced price tags compared to the current models.

apple_store_countries.jpg



According to the report, the price reductions seem to be adjusting for the fact that the U.S. dollar has fallen in value against many other world currencies over the past year, making Apple's pricing in those countries appear significantly higher than in the United States when considering exchange rates. Consequently, lower international pricing is not necessarily indicative of forthcoming price drops for the new hardware in the U.S.
We've been getting word from some international Apple retailers that not only are MacBook Airs, Minis and White MacBooks getting updated tomorrow, but they are also going to see modest-significant price drops in some countries we've polled. While we can't get into the specifics of where and how much, we can tell you some models are being reduced more than the equivalent of $100.
Click to expand...
Along similar lines, MacStories put forth an interesting theory earlier today regarding Apple's iTunes Store downtime today, suggesting that the company might be trying to rebalance its country-by-country pricing tiers to account for the weakening U.S. dollar.

While there was no direct evidence for that suggestion and there has yet to be any sign of such changes, the report did note that some of the odd collection of countries most affected by Apple's downtime are among those furthest out of line on pricing compared to the U.S. In addition, Australian politicians reported last week that Apple would be responding to their earlier requests for information about pricing disparities "in mid July".

Article Link: Apple Cutting International Pricing to Rebalance Currency Conversion Rates?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/13/apple-cutting-international-pricing-to-rebalance-currency-conversion-rates/
S

SilianRail

macrumors 6502
Feb 24, 2011
352
56
Don't they have "value added" tax ******** in Europe that accounts for most of the cost increase?
 
iStudentUK

iStudentUK

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2009
1,439
4
London
Prices in £ are high at the moment (even with VAT etc considered), I think it's the number one reason Mac has a lower Market share here compared to the US.

If they could go as far as taking 10% off it would be great.
 
S

StefSSU

macrumors regular
Jul 18, 2009
142
1
London
Prices here in the UK are much higher than in the US, even when you consider the tax. After the educational discount it's still more expensive I believe.

EDIT:
Did some calculations based on the 2.2 15 inch MBP:
US = $2200
UK = £1849
UK conversion = US$2940.99
UK minus 20% VAT = US$2352.79
after the 15% educational discount UK = US$1999.87ù

Still, that's a difference of US$152.79 before the discount. much less than I had thought, but it'd be nice for cheaper prices. Really it's the tax that's ridiculous. Luckily I live in Malawi, so I can get VAT off.
Whats the US tax rate like in most states?
 
Last edited:
BornAgainMac

BornAgainMac

macrumors 604
Feb 4, 2004
7,281
5,250
Florida Resident
" third-party retailers that some of the new machines reportedly being released tomorrow are carrying reduced price tags compared to the current models."

Translation:
Lion released tomorrow. Yeah!!!
 
I am Sampson

I am Sampson

macrumors 6502
Sep 16, 2007
395
115
Plymouth, UK
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Can't see it being 10%, probably mch smaller difference and no doubt still end up making UK (for example) more expensive than US (yes I know about tax, but even with that there's a big difference).
Still, this can't be a bad thing for whichever countries it affects, even if mine isn't one of them.
 
M

madrag

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2007
371
92
But does this price cut include other hardware? (like the iMac and the soon to be released mac pro)

Hope so, IMO it wouldn't make sence not to do this to every product, I see no explantion if they didn't.
 
M

MistaMacky

macrumors newbie
Jul 10, 2011
28
0
International Package Forwarding Firms

There are at present at least 15-20 MAJOR companies whose sole service is providing international consumers with reliable shipping FROM the United States. Their shipping rates are VERY LOW and would offset the cost of buying domestically, and substantially. All you do is have Apple ship the product to their warehouse in the US and then they ship it out of the country. Problem solved. Welcome to the 21st century: use the market and take advantage of the weak dollar foreigners!!! :cool:

New MBA tomorrow then? sweeet.
 
DrJohnnyN

DrJohnnyN

Suspended
Jan 27, 2010
1,443
2,027
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

This is a good thing!
 
ovrlrd

ovrlrd

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2009
1,384
146
Man I really wish I could reveal my source, but I know new MBA's are coming tomorrow. I couldn't get him to tell me if Lion was coming too, but whatever. I know nobody will believe me, and I hate that! At least this kind of news is starting to point to it being true anyway.
 
al256

al256

macrumors 6502a
Jun 7, 2001
945
781
Dang. I really do enjoy hearing the Aussies complain about Apple prices; I hope this continues in the future as well.

Best of luck to my vocal friends down under :)
 
wordoflife

wordoflife

macrumors 604
Jul 6, 2009
7,564
37
Good.
Normally Apple just flips the currency sign without actually doing a fair conversion rate.
 
B

Biolizard

macrumors 6502
May 20, 2008
314
0
London, United Kingdom
Some of the UK prices are still a bit wonky from when VAT moved from 17.5% to 20% where hardware hasn't been updated; looking at the MacBook (£867), Mini (£612) and Pro (£2041). I assume these will be rounded off tomorrow if the story is true.
 
P

Portaluk

Guest
Oct 10, 2009
112
0
England
Does this mean when the dollar totally collapses because of their massive debt and China cashes in on all the billions of dollar bonds they hold, the rest of the world would be able to buy macs for pennies?

This is a commendable move by apple i think most companies would have turned a blind eye and enjoyed getting a higher profit.
 
seamer

seamer

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2009
426
164
This could also explain why app prices can't be changed without the app being pulled until maintenance is over.
 
iStudentUK

iStudentUK

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2009
1,439
4
London
Portaluk said:
This is a commendable move by apple i think most companies would have turned a blind eye and enjoyed getting a higher profit.
Click to expand...

Apple wouldn't be doing this if it didn't get them more money. Lower prices = more sales = more profit overall.
 
W

Wang Foolio

macrumors regular
Jan 11, 2010
164
0
I was very happy when the Canadian prices were recently brought in line with US prices. The dollar is trading around $1.04 and has been for a long time, so it didn't make sense to pay a couple hundred bucks extra on everything.

Best of luck to the countries currently being hit hardest, I'm looking at you Australia :D

Now if only more companies would follow suit... Games Workshop is a good example of a company that desparately needs to update its international prices. They still have Aussies grossly overpaying (paying 1.7x as much when the exchange rate is approximately 1.07). Obviously exchange rates aren't the only factor (taxes, shipping, etc.) but you can't expect people to grossly overpay when you can order anything online and have it shipped.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom