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Apple Mac Index (prices compared between countries)

W

will

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 29, 2002
179
0
I have compared Apple prices in a number of countries. I was interested to see if Apple prices it's products 'fairly' in different markets, and where were the cheapest and most expensive places to buy Apple products.

http://flux.org.uk/projects/applemacindex

Enjoy,
Will
 
do you intend to compare the price differences with other factors; such as average wage, price of living etc? that would be a good next step to see if the prices are fair given the current economy of each country.

...very neatly presented though.
 
This is really interesting - thanks.

I always thought 'rip-off' Britain but I guess our VAT at 17.5% in the UK could influence the final price.

Good work - like I said, thanks!

- D
 
When the Canadian dollar started its climb from 66 US cents the Apple prices stayed at a 1.5x multiplier for a long time. But now it appears that we have decent prices in Canada.

Greg
 
Danish prices converted to US$ (5,385 DKR to $1)

Mac Pro US$ 2.926,231

iMac 24" US$ 2.005,239

MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz US$ 2.747,975

MacBook 2.0Ghz US$ 1.188,229

23" Apple Cinema Display US$ 1.039,682

iPod Touch 16GB US$ 445,493

iPod Nano 4GB US$ 222,672

Mac OS X Tiger US$ 148,399

Final Cut Studio 2 US$ 1.485,323

Update: Prices without VAT
 
Pressure said:
Danish prices converted to US$ (5,385 DKR to $1)
MacBook 2.0Ghz US$ 1.485,286
Click to expand...

You're including sales tax, which is 25% in Denmark. I make the MacBook: $1,167.99 (6,399.0 x 5.47882) before tax.

NB. Exchange rate of 5.47882 taken on same basis as other countries (see URL in original post).
 
will said:
You're including sales tax, which is 25% in Denmark. I make the MacBook: $1,167.99 (6,399.0 x 5.47882) before tax.

NB. Exchange rate of 5.47882 taken on same basis as other countries (see URL in original post).
Click to expand...

Oh, missed entirely that the prices were without VAT, sorry.

Will redo the pricing then :)
 
Prices from Apple Russia. I am too lazy to convert everything,
but the 15'' 2.4Ghz MBP is US $3728

The average salary is less than $1000....
 
tiredhorses said:
do you intend to compare the price differences with other factors; such as average wage, price of living etc? that would be a good next step to see if the prices are fair given the current economy of each country.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting idea, however I believe it would be very hard to compare prices with wages. For example, do we take wages at market exchange rates, or at purchasing power parity? Similar issues bedevil measuring the cost of living, which is much higher in say London or New York than the average for the countries concerned.

Given that the prices differences are typically of the order of +/- 10% between countries I think uncertainties in how to calculate wages and the cost of living would overshadow the variation in Apple pricing.
 
Pressure said:
Oh, missed entirely that the prices were without VAT, sorry.

Will redo the pricing then :)
Click to expand...

While people end up having to pay VAT (US buyers also have to pay sales tax when buying in physical stores in many states) I didn't include it in my calculations as it would have made the comparison more of one between tax regimes than the price Apple sets.

I can add Denmark to the tables when I next update the page.
 
will said:
While people end up having to pay VAT (US buyers also have to pay sales tax when buying in physical stores in many states) I didn't include it in my calculations as it would have made the comparison more of one between tax regimes than the price Apple sets.

I can add Denmark to the tables when I next update the page.
Click to expand...

No worries, I were just interested in seeing it compared to other countries :)
 
Sorry, but you've kind of wasted your time with this exercise. All you've really charted is the value of the currently depressed US dollar. It is not realistic to expect currencies fluctuations to be reflected in retail prices.
 
The US currency has been 'depressed' for some considerable time. In relation to the Pound, we are talking years, for instance. Given that the lifespan of each Apple product iteration is about a year or less, there is no reason not to take the current, relatively stable currency exchange rates into consideration.

As for purchasing power, that is where the wasted exercise would come in. Apple does not appear to be in the business of pricing its products equitably in relation to what would be deemed a fair price in each market. Like any other corporation, it charges as much as it thinks it can get away with. Hence, rip-off UK. Until people learn to shun the overpriced merchandise as they do in the US, Britain will continue get the prices it deserves.

The iPod is cheaper in Japan, because of the competition from other local champions (Sony) and the much more advanced mobile phones, which put their American and European counterparts to shame. Apple has to be more aggressive here. Not much of a surprise, really.
 
weckart said:
The US currency has been 'depressed' for some considerable time. In relation to the Pound, we are talking years, for instance. Given that the lifespan of each Apple product iteration is about a year or less, there is no reason not to take the current, relatively stable currency exchange rates into consideration.
Click to expand...

Not really. The dollar his lost a lot of value against the British Pound since the beginning of this year.

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=GBP&to=USD&amt=1&t=5y

And similarly against the Euro over the last couple of years.

http://finance.yahoo.com/currency/convert?from=EUR&to=USD&amt=1&t=2y

People who aren't used to seeing their currencies at historically high levels are having a tough time understanding why they aren't getting retail product discounts. They don't because nobody does.
 
I was wondering about this myself recently. It was nice to see, thanks for sharing. One thing that might be interesting would be to have the current price beside the 6 month average price. Of course, the reason for these differences is that Apple is an America company and the prices for the rest of the world try to account for the fluxuation in the exchange rate. I'm interested in how well they account for it. I'd assume that the American price is what they'd like to get on average so a history of how close they've come would show how effective their economists are at guessing prices for the products. To see that you'd probably need a full year at minimum. I don't know enough about the stores in the rest of the world, do they prices change yearly even? Or is it every few years or is it more sporadic?

For instance from your site
Mac Pro
$2499 USD
¥304,571
6 month average price for Japan $2,529.75 USD

from what I can tell
current price for Japan $2,688.14 USD
year low price for Japan $2,456 USD (approx.)
year high price for Japan $2,695 USD (approx.)
 
Man, you guys should try to live in Southamerica and then try to buy an Apple.

With Macs being at least another $800 - 1,000 extra, and the salaries there.. (I don't even want to start on that).. buying a Mac feels like buying a Rolls Royce.
In fact, we don't even have Rolls Royces!

Living in New York now, electronics are cheaper, which is a paradise for me.
 
South America pricing

tripo11 said:
Man, you guys should try to live in Southamerica and then try to buy an Apple.

With Macs being at least another $800 - 1,000 extra, and the salaries there.. (I don't even want to start on that).. buying a Mac feels like buying a Rolls Royce.
In fact, we don't even have Rolls Royces!

Living in New York now, electronics are cheaper, which is a paradise for me.
Click to expand...

Yup, my friends in Ecuador love MAC's but they are hard to buy! (And no Apple Stores either!) A friend of mine works a 40 hour week and makes $270.00 a MONTH! I brought him an iBook this past January from here, (USA). And he is loving it to death!
(He works on PC's at work and hates working on them all day!)
 
Great work, really interesting data.

I had to buy my last Mac (a MacBook Pro) under duress in London so I finally got a chance to see first-hand what non-Yanks have to complain about.
 
Spending US dollars in Britain has to be a real drag these days. Fortunately for the people who live there, they get to spend pounds.
 
Schtumple said:
wow Australia takes one hell of a beating

UK's 2nd most expensive in pretty much every one, typical...
Click to expand...

Yeah us Aussies always seem to have to pay more..... I really thought with the AUD$ so strong compared to the USD$ at the moment Australia would see a small price drop, but also we have the GST which adds 10% (roughly) to the initial product cost.

Also great post, it really is interesting to see what everyone else pays on average.
 
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