US Prices vs. UK Prices?

[hob]

Just a thought, and maybe I'm being stupid....

But the new 20" iMac, for example is $2100. This equates to around £1,200-£1,300. But in the UK, Apple are selling is for £1,700!!

Comments? Answers?

Hob

 

[caveman_uk]

Apple generally charges about 10-20% more for it's products outside of the US. They are not alone in this as many other companies do the same (Canon for example) - not that that makes it right, of course. Also you have to add UK VAT to the prices (17.5%) as the US Applestore prices do not include the appropriate sales tax. The UK store prices do include Tax

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Canon is cheaper in the US as well? But they're a Japanese company! Mind you, the US is generally cheaper for everything than the UK, even stuff like bread and milk.

 

[jxyama]

i know this will turn the discussion into chicken and egg type of thing, but when apple prices their products, they have to compare against the market.

in the u.s., 20" iMac was priced at $2100 to compare well against other desktops/LCD monitors in the u.s. market.

you have to do the same in the u.k. or japanese market.

you can't just translate the prices because it's more important to have relatively competitive prices for each relevant market.

in japan, for some reason, RAM costs 50% to 100% more than in the u.s. it's just the way it in that market... no one is trying to rip you off... but who knows how, for example, the u.k. computing market evolved to be relatively more expensive compared to the u.s. one to begin with?

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Yeah, but in the UK you can still buy a Dell for under £500 (1/2 the price of the 15" iMac)! Having said that, the eMac low end is only £650 so they are cutting down on price. And laptops are just about comparable (£850 for iBook G4 800).

 

[jxyama]

in the u.s., you can buy a dell for $500. 15" iMac is 1300. emac is $800.

it's all similar...

i didn't mean to say that the price equivelancy is not a factor at all. prices are adjusted once in a while when currency rates have changed substantially. but the market prices must have a lot of weight...

 

[johnnyjibbs]

Prices are gradually coming down for Macs, and that's a good thing. Apple makes far more desirable "high class" computers that you have to pay a premium for.

Too bad they're more outside the US...

Remember in the Paris Expo where Steve Jobs made a point of saying the prices for the new PowerBooks were the same in Euros as in US$ (the 1.25 albook was €100 less!)? It obviously does matter to him (ok so they were trying to woo the Europe crowd - it was in Paris after all...) but the G5s are €200-300 more expensive than their US counterparts.