Apple do not hate you, they are not out to get you. They are not increasing prices just to annoy you.
There is this small little thing called the exchange rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_rate
It determines the price of goods and services from the country of origin into the the currency of the country importing the goods. The exchange rate changes every day based on the global economy.
Lets do some simple math.
1 US Dollar is currently worth 0.626150 GBP, or 63 pence. This means that it costs 63p to buy a dollar. 1 pound is currently worth 1.59706 USD, or $1.60. This means it costs $1.60 to buy £1.
A Macbook costs $999 US Dollars. In the United Kingdom, the price you see is the price after VAT. In the United States, the sales tax (equivalent of our VAT) is added on afterwards because sales tax varies from state to state in the US.
Our current VAT is 15%, this means that 15% of the cost of the product is added on to the cost of the product. This 15% then goes to the government, the government then use this tax to pay for MP's to get their bollocks waxed. But that is beside the point.
$999 plus the 15% tax is $1148.85. $1148.85 into GBP is £719.31.
But wait? Thats the same price as the Macbook used to cost, so why did they put it up to £749. Well there are many business unfriendly policies in this country, basically equating to the fact that it costs Apple more money to do business here than it does in other countries like the United States. Overheads are higher, rent is higher, our minimum wage is a lot higher. If anything, Apple are probably subsidising the cost slightly to keep business.
Simply said, Apple do things for a reason. There are a host of people you can blame for price increases, one of those people is not Steve Jobs.
There is this small little thing called the exchange rate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchange_rate
It determines the price of goods and services from the country of origin into the the currency of the country importing the goods. The exchange rate changes every day based on the global economy.
Lets do some simple math.
1 US Dollar is currently worth 0.626150 GBP, or 63 pence. This means that it costs 63p to buy a dollar. 1 pound is currently worth 1.59706 USD, or $1.60. This means it costs $1.60 to buy £1.
A Macbook costs $999 US Dollars. In the United Kingdom, the price you see is the price after VAT. In the United States, the sales tax (equivalent of our VAT) is added on afterwards because sales tax varies from state to state in the US.
Our current VAT is 15%, this means that 15% of the cost of the product is added on to the cost of the product. This 15% then goes to the government, the government then use this tax to pay for MP's to get their bollocks waxed. But that is beside the point.
$999 plus the 15% tax is $1148.85. $1148.85 into GBP is £719.31.
But wait? Thats the same price as the Macbook used to cost, so why did they put it up to £749. Well there are many business unfriendly policies in this country, basically equating to the fact that it costs Apple more money to do business here than it does in other countries like the United States. Overheads are higher, rent is higher, our minimum wage is a lot higher. If anything, Apple are probably subsidising the cost slightly to keep business.
Simply said, Apple do things for a reason. There are a host of people you can blame for price increases, one of those people is not Steve Jobs.
