Apple Announces International iPad Availability for May 28th

[HLdan]

You really don't know much about international business do you?
Premium products are not priced on a "cost plus" model - they are priced at the price the manufacturer thinks that market will stand.



I don't see a £429 price killing-off the netbook market in the UK

I'd thought of getting one as a toy, but at this price the
magical:unbelievable price ratio just isn't good enough.

No worries, Apple's not losing out from you not buying an iPad, they already got plenty of your money according to your signature.

 

[talkingfuture]

UK prices are exactly what I expected, can't wait to get that pre-order in. Then the wait until release day will be agonizing!

 

[mosiejczuk]

Apple is still trying to tear European Union to pieces... I can easily take a train from Poland to Berlin and in 6 hours I can get my iPad. So much of Apple's sales statistics, just making our lifes more difficult.

 

[JeromeOD]

*sigh* you're stupidly comparing apples with oranges you douchenozzle. We cannot take off the VAT, because most folks in the UK are NOT businesses, so MUST pay the full price INCLUDING VAT. So any price considerations must include the price inclusive of VAT.

So what you're saying is that apple should sell their products cheaper than on their home country, due to local taxation factors?

Are you on medication?

 

[babble]

So what you're saying is that apple should sell their products cheaper than on their home country, due to local taxation factors?

Are you on medication?

Hahahahaha!!!

 

[ABG]

Clearly I understand it rather better than you do. The UK can (and usually does) bear higher prices than the US for virtually all goods and services, so Apple is not likely to charge less in the UK than the US.

Regrettably you don't even understand your own posts.
You asked WHY they would and used a cost price example as justification.

 

[ABG]

No worries, Apple's not losing out from you not buying an iPad, they already got plenty of your money according to your signature.

Only thanks to my MBA studies allowing access to Higher Education pricing in the past.

I'm in the demographic for this sort of tech toy, but even I'm not buying - oh oh!

 

[sphoenix]

£429 was predictable, however the 2nd generation iPad will most likely be cheaper in the US. Be what it may be here in the UK, I say if you want one - grab it now before the Tories push VAT up to 25%, that's when you'll really be contemplating another Apple product in your life.

 

[ranReloaded]

So Apple.se can either remain a stupid iPad banner for 4-5 more months of zero availability, or they can retire the banner before the product is even out. Epic J. Failington Jr...

LOL

Anyone can orchestrate a simultaneous worldwide release these days except Apple. It's like the 1970's when Hollywood movies showed up in overseas theaters 6 months later.

Guess it's still the 70's here in Japan...

 

[Akzel]

No kidding. Apple.se has been nothing but a giant iPad billboard for months. When you click to see the "unbelievable price" they're talking about, there's nothing there except vague excuses, so you go to the Store and click on the iPad link which takes you back to the same useless product page you just came from.

Since the Nordic countries are not included in the May 28 round, and supposedly not in the July one either, it's starting to look like a September-October release by which time the current iPad model will be dated technology with approx. 6 months left before it's replaced by newer models. So Apple.se can either remain a stupid iPad banner for 4-5 more months of zero availability, or they can retire the banner before the product is even out. Epic J. Failington Jr...

Anyone can orchestrate a simultaneous worldwide release these days except Apple. It's like the 1970's when Hollywood movies showed up in overseas theaters 6 months later.

Oh, I totally feel you on this one. Like I said before, Brazil is in the same situation as you nordic guys (who would guess, eh? haha). No price, except the stupid "unbelievable price" banner, and the lame perspective of that stupid, teasing, front page mocking our patience for months yet. :\

 

[mosiejczuk]

Oh, I totally feel you on this one. Like I said before, Brazil is in the same situation as you nordic guys (who would guess, eh? haha). No price, except the stupid "unbelievable price" banner, and the lame perspective of that stupid, teasing, front page mocking our patience for months yet. :\

Same in Poland, except for the fact that we are close to Germany, so thanks to Apple we have a reason to boost their economy a bit.

 

[ranReloaded]

Looks like €479 is the Spanish price.
http://www.apple.com/es/pr/library/2010/05/07ipad.html

So much for a unified currency

 

[Thomas Davie]

iphoneincanada.com posted these plans for Canada. They aren't for sure, just based it on the current plans available

[

Thanks for posting those prices. Couldn't find them on the website you referenced, If true or accurate, those prices are pretty crappy and really hamstring the iPad.

thanks

Tom

 

[rushmere]

Regrettably you don't even understand your own posts.
You asked WHY they would and used a cost price example as justification.

No I didn't, you are mis-reading my post.

I was actually agreeing with your statement that goods "are priced at the price the manufacturer thinks that market will stand". That's why Apple will not generally sell at a lower price than the US, because the UK market can stand higher prices.

 

[Thomas Davie]

Then move out of Canada.

Be reasonable.

Tom

 

[marc.cizravi]

$549 (CAN) for the base model....lame... I'm considering a little trip to the US since our dollar is on par with the US

A trip to the US to save 50$...how much is that travel and your time going to cost you? :]

 

[mosiejczuk]

Same in Poland, except for the fact that we are close to Germany, so thanks to Apple we have a reason to boost their economy a bit.

btw. we are still waiting for the german prices (anybody seen them?)

 

[Anuba]

Thanks for posting those prices. Couldn't find them on the website you referenced, If true or accurate, those prices are pretty crappy and really hamstring the iPad.

It's not inconceivable that the success of the iPad in the US has made Apple wish they would've charged more for it, and that foreigners now have to pay the price for Apple's boosted confidence.

Maybe that's even part of the reason for the delayed global rollout of new product categories of Apple's, such as the iPhone and the iPad... officially it's because they're negotiating deals with carriers abroad, but in reality it's because they're using the US as a guinea pig to determine the potential for gouging money out of the rest of the world. The guinea pig concept has been used before. In the past, American record labels used Sweden as a guinea pig because they found that the Swedish market was like a micro version of the American market, with roughly the same taste (minus the country music part). So, sometimes albums by US based artists were released in Sweden before the US just to get an idea of how well they would perform. This was before Napster and bittorrent, though. ;-)

A trip to the US to save 50$...how much is that travel and your time going to cost you? :]

Dude, you can't mix logic and ideas about saving money. Ever seen people complain about gas prices, only to go out and trade in their old car for a new and less thirsty one, setting them back $20,000, which means they have to drive the new car for at least 10 years to break even?

 

[psychjoe]

So what you're saying is that apple should sell their products cheaper than on their home country, due to local taxation factors?

Are you on medication?

Maybe he knows more about marketing than you, and a company should charge what it expects its targeted demography to be willing to pay.

It from some posts on here it seems that Apple will lose sales because of this - although maybe they'll scoop them up later if/when the price drops.

BTW - Can I assume that you are one of those irritating fanboys that defends Apple no matter what and probably sends Steve Jobs christmas e-mail cards

 

[JeromeOD]

Oh I SEE! it's MARKETING! jeez, what was I thinking? I mean, they've completely screwed the iPhone and iPod touch pricing in the UK, no-one's buying them, so you must be right!

And no. I'm not. And not actually interested in an ipad either. But I do know how apple pricing works. You might get away with cheaper goods locally in China but not USA v UK.

 

[allmIne]

*sigh* you're stupidly comparing apples with oranges you douchenozzle. We cannot take off the VAT, because most folks in the UK are NOT businesses, so MUST pay the full price INCLUDING VAT. So any price considerations must include the price inclusive of VAT.

So, to compare apples to Apples: if you DO take into account USA sales tax, the British *still* get f*cked hard by crApple. To wit:

Current US prices for WIFI iPads:
16 GB WIFI
$499.00

32 GB WIFI
$599.00

64 GB WIFI
$699.00

Let's say we add 10.5% sales tax to the above (a la San Francisco?):

16 GB WIFI
$551.40

32 GB WIFI
$661.90

64 GB WIFI
$772.40

And per the BBC, today we get 1.4677 US dollars per British pound, so if I convert the above Ipad + tax prices to Pounds Stelring:

16 GB WIFI
£375.69

32 GB WIFI
£450.98

64 GB WIFI
£526.27

OK, so far so good for a UK person as the prices ain't too bad (if they're visiting the USA!)

BUT for those of us who are living in the UK, the "real" UK prices (as announced by Apple today) are actually as follows:


16 GB WIFI
£429 (£53.31 more expensive than the "converted" prices above.)

32 GB WIFI
£499 (£48.02 more expensive than the "converted" prices above.)

64 GB WIFI
£599 (£72.73 more expensive than the "converted" prices above.)

As you can see, even taking the US sales tax into account, in the UK we pay at least about £50 on top just for the WI-Fi iPads... (I'm too tired to do the math for the 3G versions!)

I'll be honest, i am NOT surprised, US companies (and possibly other countries' companies?) always give us the not-so-gentle screw when it comes to electronics and software.

I think it's bollocks, but what to do?

So you start by blaming tax, and finish by blaming Apple.

How did you put it? Douchenozzle?

 

[JadedBen]

Just out of interest, any of the UK members signed up with Quidco? As you can get 3% cashback through them if you buy direct from the apple store. It's not a huge amount, but it's something.

Funnily enough though they've dropped it down to 3%, was 4% just the other week, they do like to change it about, went from 3% to 4% a few months after the 3GS came out last year, so that's when i bought mine, lol.


Shame though, i was tempted by the pad, but i'll probably save the money for the new phone..

 

[Anuba]

I think you're flattering yourself there. I'm pretty sure Apple had their dates picked out before the hung parliamentary vote happened. I'm sorry, things from Apple ALWAYS cost more in Europe. This isn't because the pound is lower than normal. Our prices do not include taxes, yours do.

True, the hung parliament probably didn't factor in at all, and the GBP has taken a hit lately. But it's not like the USD is at an all-time high either. In Clinton's days, a dollar used to be worth 13 SEK (Swedish krona). Today it's 7 SEK. And yet, Apple's prices in SEK are roughly USD*10, just like 10 years ago. When the SEK is struggling at the time Apple releases a new product, they jack up the prices, and if the value of the SEK drops after they introduced a new product, they jack up the price again. But if the SEK recovers, they still stick with the old price. It's a one way street, like when the oil companies keep finding far fetched and contradictory excuses to jack up the price. If someone farts in Nigeria, it's a huge concern, so they have to jack up the price. If nobody farts in Nigeria, this is also a huge concern and a valid excuse for a price hike.

Apple makes great products but they suck on the other side of the pond, as reflected by the considerable discrepancy between US market share and international market share. Their sales and service is abysmal where I live (Scandinavia), while competitors like Dell and HP are even better to deal with over here than in the US. Steve is supposedly a liberal, but... those flag-waving militia freaks down South seem more interested in the outside world than he does.

 

[Budice]

Good Call JadedBen!

 

[BeachChair]

I am so dissapointed that it's not coming to scandinavia

I don't understand it, every other european country is getting it, why not any of the scandinavian countries?