I had to get a new MacBook Pro charger the other day. I can't believe they're $99.99 Canadian now, I'm just glad I saved $20 because it still had the old price label on it
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Apple Raises Prices in Europe and Canada as U.S. Dollar Remains Strong
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Not really. People are upset because currency fluctuations do not effect real wages or purchasing power. They are mechanisms companies use to maintain profitability, assuming purchasing volume doesn't decline (which it very well might). People are also upset because Apple has very little operations in the USA. It may be headquartered in the USA, but most production actually occurs in China. These currency adjustments are to maintain record profit levels each quarter. Profits, revenue, and share price are all USD, that's about as American as Apple is these days!
Dear Tim Cook: When the Canadian dollar was above par for almost a year I don't remember you lowering the prices in Canada! In fact most item's were still some $50-$100 more then the same models in U.S. But now that are dollar is around $.80 vs U.S dollar you have no issue jacking up the prices even more. Example (base mini $499 U.S now $599 cdn...Base Retina MBP $1299 U.S now $1549 cdn). Mr Cook at some point there will be a breaking point of which us Canadian's can afford to pay this major price increase. At that point Mac users will be forced to go back to Windows or Chrome computers. You will lose sale's and profit's. Shame on you Mr Cook!
Most of Apple's engineering is in USA.
And it is reasonable for the products to cost a little bit more in Germany, for example, to pay for some extra costs distributed across a smaller market (e.g.: localisation).
I was looking in to options for joining the dark side the other day..
The base Alienware is a 6-core Haswell-E with a gtx 960 and is on par with the Mac PRO 6c at about ½ the price (but a 1000% weight gain thou..)
Now, with the apple increase, the Alienware Area 51 costs 37% of the nMP 6c..
And it still has a faster CPU and is easy to upgrade..
I don´t like windows but maybe it´s time to give it a shot..
(It´s for Lightroom and Photoshop use only).
The base Alienware is a 6-core Haswell-E with a gtx 960 and is on par with the Mac PRO 6c at about ½ the price (but a 1000% weight gain thou..)
Now, with the apple increase, the Alienware Area 51 costs 37% of the nMP 6c..
And it still has a faster CPU and is easy to upgrade..
I don´t like windows but maybe it´s time to give it a shot..
(It´s for Lightroom and Photoshop use only).
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That's it. It's not about money, but I won't buy Apple products anymore. They've lost me, because:
1.) New MacBook: sucks, is slower than my mid 2013 MacBook Air and 4h+ shorter battery life, and 480p webcam!
2.) Still Haswell in MacBook Pro
3.) Prices keep rising
Bye bye
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This probably means that they'll also increase the prices of iPhones when they launch 6S in September
They can go and **** them selves!
Not quite sure what message Apple are sending out currently in the UK. I have been in three large Apple stores this week and found the identical issue in all three - iMacs relegated to the back of the store.
Not only relegated to rear of store but given hardly any retail space. There was quite literally just three iMac's on display i.e. 21.5 inch 27" standard and the 27" 5K.
The vast majority of the store was dedicated to iDevices. Watches at the front of store then iPhones, iPads, Macbooks and finally the three iMac's.
In fact a number of Department Stores were giving the iMac's far more prominence than the Apple stores.
So what gives?
Hah. You got jokes, I like that.
So, it appears that 9.45% is the highest rate of any state?
UK Store base Mac Pro. £3299.00
US Store base Mac Pro, (+9.45%). $4376.91
Using Apples own currency converter, £3299 = $5116.91.
I am happy for you to point out my error if you see one?
I was going to buy a 15" rMBP at $1999, but then it jumped overnight to $2450.
I really like it and love the 15" with 16:10 aspect ratio and trackpad... but I can't square $2500 for a laptop, sadly, and 13" is a bit too cramped for me.
I guess I should have bought one when they were only "expensive."
I really like it and love the 15" with 16:10 aspect ratio and trackpad... but I can't square $2500 for a laptop, sadly, and 13" is a bit too cramped for me.
I guess I should have bought one when they were only "expensive."
Problem you have is that too many people will not vote with their wallets. (Or if they are happy to pay then maybe they already are).
Hopefully they raise their prices in the US too. It will help increase their profits and that's what matters most.
You should be subtracting the tax from the European price and then converting the pre-tax € to $, not adding the tax to the dollar price. That results in an inaccurate calculation due to the fact that $ ≠ €.
4599 € - (19% tax of 4599 €) = 3865 € = $4307 = +8% of $3999.
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What on earth are you on about. It’s useless to talk about what tax you add and don’t add. The consumer cannot get away with not paying it. If the UK tax was 100% would reduce their prices? No.
I applied US tax to the US and UK tax to the UK. Corporations aren’t stupid. They charge what they can get away with charging. You think the Mac Pro is really worth the prices they are charging, it bloody well isn’t. After all manufacturing costs the rest of the price is made up of whatever level of margin they feel they can apply.
Anyhow, lets look at pre tax pricing;
US = $3999
UK = $5116.91/1.2 = $4264.09
£3,299.00
Includes VAT of approx. £550.00.*
The VAT doesn't account for all the difference, but it's not inconsequential.
No, they're not in it for the money we've been told that many times, it's all just for love.Hopefully they raise their prices in the US too. It will help increase their profits and that's what matters most.
UK base Mac Pro = £2,499 - 20% VAT = £2,083 = $3,231
U.S. base Mac Pro = $2,999
= About 8% more expensive in the UK than the US without taxes.
Realised that error just now and corrected it.
7.7% isn't that bad considering European and British customers are protected by much more comprehensive consumer laws.
I'm not sure exactly when, but it was sometime over the last couple of months. I was shopping for them over the past few months, then noticed a few weeks ago that it had jumped.
I guess I should have predicted it, but I didn't think it would go up $450 overnight, I suppose. If I was on the fence before, I'm not anymore. I also think it's strange that the 15" is $1000 more than the base 13". It'd be nice if they offered the 13" specs in the 15" body.
I'd rather buy a $1300 laptop and go on a nice trip or two, or get a nice bike, etc..
To be fair, it's not insane, although I agree entirely with those who point out that it does seem outrageous if Apple do not lower prices when the USD is weak, but do raise prices when it is strong.
However, to your point... Europeans are not making more money, no, but what they are earning is worth less on the world stage, because the currency has been weakening significantly. If you go to America and buy a hamburger, it will cost you more of your money to do it, because it is worth less. The same is true of buying something made by a US company. Sure, some companies absorb a relative loss and don't increase prices if they think that works for them overall (due to not losing sales, despite making less on each item sold). Clearly Apple reckon their model of increasing the price will not cost them more in lost sales than it earns and, since many (but not all) Apple buyers are relatively well off, they are probably right. After all, they may be becoming increasingly irritating in how they launch and sell hardware or in their buggy software releases, but you can't deny that they understand how to make money.
Currencies do not get stronger and stronger forever, partly because a strong currency damages exports, and that then weakens a country's economy. The stronger the USD, the harder it is for exporters, because people in other countries are paying more to buy their goods, so they sell less of them. Countries such as China keep their currency artificially lower than it should be (so I understand) in order to keep exports buoyant.
So, the bottom line is that it is not insane. It is simply the reality of global economics. No, Europeans are not earning more, but courtesy in no small part of a few particular countries I could mention, the Euros in their pockets are worth less than they once were. I'm glad the UK kept the Pound. But these things go up and down all the time. For quite a while, the Pound was weak against the Euro, so taking a holiday in France, for example, was fairly expensive. Now it is fairly cheap. That has nothing to do with how much people are earning in their own currencies, but how much those currencies are worth relative to each other.
Give it time, and Americans will be moaning at the price of something made in Spain, and Europeans will be delighted how far their money goes when they visit Seattle. That's how economics works - it is reasonably logical.
Then where do you live? Canada?
Also, if you compare the specs, the difference in price between 13" and 15" MBP isn't big at all.
Remember, the 15" comes with 16 GB RAM and 256 GB Flash standard.