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Apple Cutting International Pricing to Rebalance Currency Conversion Rates?

I wish the hardware prices reflected the app prices in similarity.

Currently with exchange rate and tax the UK app prices even with the increase are similar to U.S.

However hardware is WAY WAY more expensive even forgetting that U.S. tax is a lot less. Because people forget the cost of living, is a lot more. Housing Tax, insurance and energy costs are a lot more than the UK. The price of goods and food in the U.S. is a lot less, so across the board it balances out.

However, i'm still not keen on paying an increase because of the currency strength, especially as it stemmed from U.S. real estate agents selling big houses to Mexican strawberry pickers.
 
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SilianRail said:
Housing is ridiculously expensive in the UK. You've got to be kidding if you think it's more expensive in the US.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003536872_flat23.html

As for energy, gasoline costs $3.50 per gallon in the US, which is £0.57 per litre.
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Housing Tax

And not the price of energy but the amount of energy they use. Depending on where you live, the average yearly mileage is higher, cars use a lot more fuel and often energy is required all year round. For example air conditioning in the summer and warming in the winter, over much larger spaces.

We all know house prices are artificially cheap over there at the moment.
 
bp1000 said:
Housing Tax

And not the price of energy but the amount of energy they use. Depending on where you live, the average yearly mileage is higher, cars use a lot more fuel and often energy is required all year round. For example air conditioning in the summer and warming in the winter, over much larger spaces.

We all know house prices are artificially cheap over there at the moment.
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So Americans live in much larger spaces than the English, which would mean housing is cheaper over here.
 
I read the article you posted

London and the south of England is a different ball game on house prices.

It is all about supply and demand. A big influx of rich foreigners wanted a base in London, especially in some key areas who easily have large enough deposits to take out a mortgage or buy outright in some cases. Inner London is a fairly small and densely populated and there is a finite amount of land to build on that is quickly eroding. Therefore house prices are high because people can afford them.

It does make it hard for people starting out, especially as you need a higher deposit but people are still buying and selling. Where as in the U.S. lending has little confidence and there is an abundance of space and housing available. So it isn't moving and to spur it into action they need to reduce the prices.

However my point isn't about house prices. It is about the differences in the cost of living.

I was stating that when comparing the 2 apple products in the UK and US people forget that typically the cost of goods and food is a lot cheaper and they assume the other costs of living like energy, fuel, heathcare and property tax is also cheaper. However it isn't in all cases. Depending on the state you live in property tax can be very high, as is car insurance and the point i made about energy is relational to the climate so even though energy per unit is cheaper you need more of it all year round.

On balance the U.S. is more than likely to be slightly cheaper to live there in comparison but it seems much harder to find higher paid jobs like what i can earn in the UK. And believe me, i run a U.S. business from the UK and there rules and ethics in business are a lot more aggressive and you have to work a lot harder to make your dollar.
 
I hope this means the MBAs will drop 50$ in Canada so that they are the same price as the ones in the U.S.
 
bp1000 said:
I was stating that when comparing the 2 apple products in the UK and US people forget that typically the cost of goods and food is a lot cheaper and they assume the other costs of living like energy, fuel, heathcare and property tax is also cheaper. However it isn't in all cases. Depending on the state you live in property tax can be very high, as is car insurance and the point i made about energy is relational to the climate so even though energy per unit is cheaper you need more of it all year round.

On balance the U.S. is more than likely to be slightly cheaper to live there in comparison but it seems much harder to find higher paid jobs like what i can earn in the UK. And believe me, i run a U.S. business from the UK and there rules and ethics in business are a lot more aggressive and you have to work a lot harder to make your dollar.
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Not true!
Almost everything in the UK is more expensive than the USA and that's down to many factors but particularlypetrol (gasoline).
In the UK we currently pay £1.30 a litre, that's the equivalent to £5.85 a gallon or $9 a gallon - that's almost treble the cost of petrol in the USA.
Now at some point EVERYTHING you buy is moved by road so it costs more.
We too pay car insurance and road tax, rates (property tax), N.I, VAT, and a plethora of other taxes.
I drive a car valued at £15000 and pay £700 a year ($1100) to insure it and pay £400 a year in road tax on top. And I'm a good driver with 9 years no claims bonus!
And that's not dependent on State, those charges apply nationaly.
Then if I drive into London I have to pay an £8 a day ($12.32) congestion charge just to drive my car.
I lived in the USA for a year and the cost of living is MUCH cheaper than it is in the UK, it's not even close.
Your electricity charges for example currently average out about 15c (9.74p) KWH, whereas in the UK it's 15p (23.1c) KWH - that's 40% more. In the last few days utility companies have announced that their prices for gas & electricity will be going up by 18-25%, so then the cost of living in the UK will rocket up even more.
Even when the dollar strengthened against the pound a few years back, it was still a lot less to live in the USA than in the UK, so the 'it's all relative' argument you tried to make doesn't apply and that's why we Brits are a little unhappy.
So any lower prices from Apple will be overdue and welcome! :)
 
walterg74 said:
So you're pissed about a 20% tax? Try living here in south america and paying 50% then!

As an exxample, a MB that cost $1000 in the US costs $1500 here (yes, US).... (plus the fact the ppls salaries are about 1/4 of US salaries... you do the math).
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Like I said, I live in Malawi. want to talk about average salaries? Malawi's is likely about 1/20 of South America (off google the income per person is around $160, and I can confirm that that's a decent estimate). If you were to try to buy a tech product there that's relatively recent it'd cost a bomb. You couldn't buy an iPhone 4 there for less than ≈150,000 malawi Kwacha. that's close to $1000, and it's from some random guy who probably smuggled the damn thing, so forget about service or warranty, it ****s up you need a new one or risk it with some guy in a shop that sells batteries.
Want a relatively new car? Get ready to pay more than the cost of the car itself for duty/import tax (that's right, 120% duty is the norm). And if you want to fill that car with fuel (be it petrol or diesel), fuel prices while not the highest are rising all the time, and are significantly higher than the US. And that's if you can get fuel, fuel shortages are now extremely common, leaving the entire country dry. Waiting anywhere between 2 hours to 2 days in line for fuel during shortages that can last more than a week is happening multiple times a year.
 
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ovrlrd said:
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.
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You look extremely silly right now.
 
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