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Apple Raises Mac Prices in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mexico, Thailand and Turkey
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I was going to call you out for drinking the 'Apple don't rip off other countries' Kool Aid, but when I did the rate conversions - you're spot on, nearly the the same(ish) across the countries......... So you sir win 1 internet
Today after adjusting for exchange rates =
Base MacBook Pro 13"
US - $1,299 USD No sales tax
UK - $1,283 USD when allowing for VAT, Uk prices are cheaper - I expect a price increase soon
DK - $1,378 USD when allowing for tax, less than $100 difference so they can be forgiven
NZ - $1,426 USD when allowing for GST, less than $150 difference so they're pushing it a bit
Apple has something called Delusions of Grandeur, thinking we'll pay for that
Or sell the left testicle after the kidney, like a 2 for 1.
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Part of the reason why Mac sales goes up is cause people could afford it, now don't get mistaken that this makes it cheap, its still a premium product in those countries and is in the upper tier price bracket. You can still get better speced computers at the price of a Mac but with this increment, the prices just went to unreasonable and I'm generally supportive of Apple but this time I want to see them lose in their quarter sales.
Dell laptops are suddenly looking very good.....
Not too sure where you are getting your financial data from.
Oct 9 A$ 1 = US$0.7267
Oct 16 A$ 1 = US$0.7301
April 2013 A$1 = US$1.0546
In the last 2.5 years the Aussie Dollar has lost 30% compared to the US$.
People also forget GST which is included in AU but sales tax is not normally shown in US and import duties.
Apple is a US company and reports in US$ and will protect its margin. All companies do.
Stuff gets made in China and money sits in caribbean. Awesome. Way to go.
And when no one is buying what will happen to those margins? How much a bird in a hand is worth?
It's more about maintaining price parity to avoid arbitrage opportunities between locations. The price difference can't be so large that it is worthwhile for a third party to buy, ship, and resell in another jurisdiction.
That said, it would seem to me that Apple should be lowering US prices somewhat as well to reflect the dollar's strength. That would result in a lower parity point for markets with weaker currencies.
USD vs CHY has only varied ~ +/- 5% over the last few years and it is currently almost exactly the same as Oct 2011.
I don't think they are breaking any laws by putting money in the Caribbean. (It is not Apples fault countries can't develop decent laws). No one pays more tax than they really have to. Fix the laws to address the tax minimisation and I would expect Apple will comply.
I'm from Poland ( eastern Europe for those who do not know) and can totally relate to that price increase. 5 months ago the cost of 1usd was 3,19 pln. Ever since then it's about 3,7 pln for 1 usd.
The macbook pro 15" used to cost 8500 pln and does cost 9499 pln which is almost as insane as the prices in Brazil. If salaries here were as high as in the US, UK, Germany or so that would not be that big of an issue, I guess. But paying 9500 pln to us feels and really IS EXACTLY like paying 9500$ and that is insane! You can buy a used car for that money ffs.
Being a foreigner living in Poland and being paid in PLN I can totally relate with what you say.
Average salary here is like 2500PLN. Good luck buying a Mac with that salary
Apple needs money to pay for all those 5400 Upm harddrives.
I usually don't comment on this kind of news, and I don't even have the right to complain since the prices her in UK are still OK (and with the educational discount you shove off another 10-14% or so).
But I have to say I am utterly disappointed by Apple, lately. I have never praised Steve Jobs as the messiah, but looking back makes me think he was a great manager, visionary and more-than-fair to the customers. Post-Jobs Apple has lost it, they only care about immediate profit instead of going for what is know as "loyalty marketing", try and grow, through incentives, in those markets whose economies don't shine. Now, doubling up the price in Brazil, sounds ridiculous. In Italy, where technology is a status symbol and people would buy Apple computers like peanuts, prices are out of control.
I have to say, my gut feeling tells me that Apple is not caring at all about computers. They keep making them "just because", as it was for Aperture, Final Cut or Logic which are now (almost) abandonware. The last Apple-like machine was the nMP, which I think was Jobs' last will. Now it is all about iPhones, and indeed the iPhones are not so susceptible to price fluctuations... Just a coincidence?
But I have to say I am utterly disappointed by Apple, lately. I have never praised Steve Jobs as the messiah, but looking back makes me think he was a great manager, visionary and more-than-fair to the customers. Post-Jobs Apple has lost it, they only care about immediate profit instead of going for what is know as "loyalty marketing", try and grow, through incentives, in those markets whose economies don't shine. Now, doubling up the price in Brazil, sounds ridiculous. In Italy, where technology is a status symbol and people would buy Apple computers like peanuts, prices are out of control.
I have to say, my gut feeling tells me that Apple is not caring at all about computers. They keep making them "just because", as it was for Aperture, Final Cut or Logic which are now (almost) abandonware. The last Apple-like machine was the nMP, which I think was Jobs' last will. Now it is all about iPhones, and indeed the iPhones are not so susceptible to price fluctuations... Just a coincidence?
I'm living in Malaysia where its hit by "2.6b donation" scandal on our Prime Minister. Well, Apple products are already expensive, but the recent fall of my country's economy makes it worst. Added in with the recent GST. An iPhone6S 16gb starts at RM3.3k in my country. That's more than an average person monthly salary here. Sigh... there goes hope in buying future Apple products.
Nicely summarized. Products alone is already one domain. The software domain is another headache with Ios 8 and 9 releases being more flawed. Steve and his old team was indeed anal towards the small little things of how the OS behaved and functioned, and that kept iOS almost flawless with each release. The most recent ios 9 is stable, but could never never beat what was achieved in ios 6. The animations broke after a while using on my iphone 5. So I thought maybe my phone was old enough to see that kind of bug. Then when I came across iphone 6/6+ devices with the same symptom, it just shows how poorly done the QA is at this moment.
Cheers my friend. It is indeed sad to see the prices of new phones/macbook. A year in a half ago, with that price I could jolly well afford a decent macbook air. Now perhaps only that entry phone, or 2 base models of ipad mini's. It's a shame indeed.
Chia works hard to minimize fluctuations in the Yuan and the Yuan has strengthened against the dollar making Chunese goods more expensive over the last four years. Apple needed to reprice to maintain profit margins.
That's because prices (and wages) tend to be more sticky in the downward direct. If sales and revenue is acceptable there is no reason to lower prices and thus hit margins unless you think you can get big revenue boost.
Well...when will Apple realize that they are outpricing themselves from most developing countries. Once the loyalty is gone from fans, Apple's brand is as good as dead. They will be the new blackberry..
I'm still surprised that Apple is willing to risk market share and brand loyalty just to maintain their margins.
Apple will most likely see a decrease in international sales versus last year because of this.
Apple products,Unprofitable?? are you insane?
Apple probably makes the most profit on hardware in this planet..