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iTunes Europe - 1.29 Euros?
- Thread starter arn
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Colonel Panik said:
I wouldn't say that Americans get preferencial treatment. (we are the world's largest consumer, afterall)The reported prices are out of apple's control, and would be as high as they are reported to be because of YOUR economic system and its high taxes, not a world conspiracy to charge europeans more.
Don't forget to add the sales tax to the US prices. The EU prices already include VAT. While not making the prices identical, to does bring them a tad closer.Vroem said:US song: $0,99 = 0,83
EU song: $1,53 = 1,29
I can live with that, but only if they offer high (musical) quality classical music, because that's what lots of Europeans like.
eric_n_dfw said:
that is local but varies only a little, and in finland that's 22% (which i believe is the highest in eu area.
somebody said royalties etc are fixed at 0.80 euros, but can that be true? american itms - if i remember correctly - pays 0.66 dollars which equals 0.55 euros currently, so where does this additional 45% come from?
if apple can make a good deal, they will give european itms equal price (without taxes) than american itms. so if a dollar equals 0.80 euros, plus -say- 20% tax, that would mean one euro per song.
anything above that is an outrage.
Actually not for all products.
Cell phones? North america is in the dark ages compared to Europe and other parts of the world.
40% of cell phones in Europe ship with bluetooth, 2% only in north america. A good yard stick for the decent phones floating around...
Really, here, cell phones suck - you have to wait months until they become available on this side of the pond. A lot of new phones available here aren't much better than the phones that were sold in Europe several years ago.
Cell phones? North america is in the dark ages compared to Europe and other parts of the world.
40% of cell phones in Europe ship with bluetooth, 2% only in north america. A good yard stick for the decent phones floating around...
Really, here, cell phones suck - you have to wait months until they become available on this side of the pond. A lot of new phones available here aren't much better than the phones that were sold in Europe several years ago.
Colonel Panik said:
Europe getting shafted compared to US on Apple products is hardly news anymore. I would have been very surprised if prices were closer to the $/ rate, and therefore 0.84 per song.
I'm happy if it amounts £0.86 per song here in the UK.
I'm happy if it amounts £0.86 per song here in the UK.
eric_n_dfw said:
Sales tax in the UK is 17.5% so that doesn't seem that much. I know that we have low sales tax compared to some EU countries, so this is probably a compromise. I should think that not all the extra is tax, but we enjoy the public services that higher taxes buy us, that means putting up with paying more tax. Doesn't it?
Just to clarify....
Those who know Apple's traditional policies know that Apple did not actually announce nor confirm these prices.
From a business case though, if the EU can show that it can carry the same "buzz" for both iPod lines, than Apple will be more than willing to "comp" the taxes and surcharges just to make sure the EU's iTMS web traffic mirrors or betters that of the US. Look at Apple's latest financial statement and it'll confirm that Steve and Cupertino are more than willing to not make a dime on the iTMS, period.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised once the WWDC roles around and Steve can announce both the service debut in the UK and the per song price. If you do the math, if costs Apple no more than $60 US to manufacture an iPod Mini. At the street price they're fetching - Steve and the boys are bathing in money.... Heads Up guys, Apple is bound to take the World by storm again thru iTMS! -silverone
Those who know Apple's traditional policies know that Apple did not actually announce nor confirm these prices.
From a business case though, if the EU can show that it can carry the same "buzz" for both iPod lines, than Apple will be more than willing to "comp" the taxes and surcharges just to make sure the EU's iTMS web traffic mirrors or betters that of the US. Look at Apple's latest financial statement and it'll confirm that Steve and Cupertino are more than willing to not make a dime on the iTMS, period.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised once the WWDC roles around and Steve can announce both the service debut in the UK and the per song price. If you do the math, if costs Apple no more than $60 US to manufacture an iPod Mini. At the street price they're fetching - Steve and the boys are bathing in money.... Heads Up guys, Apple is bound to take the World by storm again thru iTMS! -silverone
It's ok actually
We're used to getting screwed on pricing by Apple in Europe, but this would be about 85p per track - I was expecting 99p, so this would be fine - our CD albums here cost £12.99 - £16.99...
We're used to getting screwed on pricing by Apple in Europe, but this would be about 85p per track - I was expecting 99p, so this would be fine - our CD albums here cost £12.99 - £16.99...
Remember, most Americans are clueless about the exchange rate, and just assume that the US dollar is strong.Windowlicker said:
1.25 !? What a the hell?
And I thought 0,99 would be expensive. For 1.25 I WILL NOT BUY ONE SINGLE SONG OR ALBUM FROM ITUNES OR ANY ONLINE MUSIC STORE!
I'll buy records (CD, VINYL) and download .mp3 from P2P, that's what I'll keep doing.
cheers from ...somewhere in Europe!
pedro
And I thought 0,99 would be expensive. For 1.25 I WILL NOT BUY ONE SINGLE SONG OR ALBUM FROM ITUNES OR ANY ONLINE MUSIC STORE!
I'll buy records (CD, VINYL) and download .mp3 from P2P, that's what I'll keep doing.
cheers from ...somewhere in Europe!
pedro
LaMerVipere said:
Em, The European Union is now the largest trading block on the planet. The old crap about the US being a larger market, therefore having better economies of scale doesn't add up anymore.
I'll bet that its 1.29 + Tax. When you buy photographs through iPhoto 4 in Europe, its the price of the print plus your local tax (21% here in Ireland, where I live).
we should remember that Euro has fluctuated between $0.80 to current level of $1.25 or so in the last few years.
it would be a logistical and marketing nightmare for apple to constantly adjust the song prices to reflect the exchange rates. for hardware, since updates and new product introductions occur on the order of half years, they can adjust for currency exchange rates then. but the same cannot be said for iTMS prices.
take Euro at $1, add in 20% tax/VAT and give some wiggle room: 1.29 per song.
doesn't sound all that unreasonable to me...
i imagine it will be 150 yen per song in Japan.
it would be a logistical and marketing nightmare for apple to constantly adjust the song prices to reflect the exchange rates. for hardware, since updates and new product introductions occur on the order of half years, they can adjust for currency exchange rates then. but the same cannot be said for iTMS prices.
take Euro at $1, add in 20% tax/VAT and give some wiggle room: 1.29 per song.
doesn't sound all that unreasonable to me...
i imagine it will be 150 yen per song in Japan.
I can buy the CD's I want for £8.99 here in the UK. Say there are 10 tracks per CD, thats 89p per track, rather similar to iTunes.
Of course if you buy the CD you benefit from an actual hard copy of the music, a nice booklet, higher quality and often extra features like videos.
Record labels and Apple must be raking it in, as they are charging roughly the same to download the albums as they do if I bought the cd. They obviously don't need to pay for CD printing etc for the download version, so why is it so expensive? Running the iTunes service can't be that expensive.
The only benefit iTunes gives, that I can see, is that you get the music quicker and you don't buy what you don't want.
However, at that price, I'd rather buy a CD. I don't understand how it has been so succesful for such a high price. I hope they reduce the price as I won't use it and I would really love to.
Of course if you buy the CD you benefit from an actual hard copy of the music, a nice booklet, higher quality and often extra features like videos.
Record labels and Apple must be raking it in, as they are charging roughly the same to download the albums as they do if I bought the cd. They obviously don't need to pay for CD printing etc for the download version, so why is it so expensive? Running the iTunes service can't be that expensive.
The only benefit iTunes gives, that I can see, is that you get the music quicker and you don't buy what you don't want.
However, at that price, I'd rather buy a CD. I don't understand how it has been so succesful for such a high price. I hope they reduce the price as I won't use it and I would really love to.
You just know we'll get ripped off even more than europe...as per usualUKMacBod said:
I ain't paying £1 per song (as I imagine they'll try) when I know they only pay $0.99 in the States.
You people bitch an awful lot.
It still shocks me to read "I would buy a song for 1.19, BUT 1.29 IS AN AFFRONT TO HUMANITY AND I HATE APPLE AND I WILL NEVER SUPPORT IT... SCREW YOU GUYS, I'M GOIN HOME!"
What makes you think that Apple can get the same prices in every nation on Earth? Licensing and taxation vary EVERYWHERE.
That said, the source might not even be right. I am sure Apple is trying its best to get the price at that magic "99" number, and that may be a big reason it is taking so long to get iTMS in Europe.
It still shocks me to read "I would buy a song for 1.19, BUT 1.29 IS AN AFFRONT TO HUMANITY AND I HATE APPLE AND I WILL NEVER SUPPORT IT... SCREW YOU GUYS, I'M GOIN HOME!"
What makes you think that Apple can get the same prices in every nation on Earth? Licensing and taxation vary EVERYWHERE.
That said, the source might not even be right. I am sure Apple is trying its best to get the price at that magic "99" number, and that may be a big reason it is taking so long to get iTMS in Europe.
Another way that Apple shafts Euro customers is this pan-European sales tax that they like to impose.
In the UK, sales tax is 17.5%, but Apple sometimes charges a 21% rate ( for services such as dot Mac ).
Who pockets the difference between what the government take and what Apple actually charge ? With that sort of mark up, there would be no need to claim that credit card transaction charges need to be additionally factored in as well - are we to believe that US credit cards don't charge for their service ?
Apple always protests that it's adopting a uniform sales tax rate across all of Europe, but in the US, sales tax varies from state to state and Apple can accomodate that with no problem. What's so difficult about applying the correct sales tax rate for an entire country then ?
In the UK, sales tax is 17.5%, but Apple sometimes charges a 21% rate ( for services such as dot Mac ).
Who pockets the difference between what the government take and what Apple actually charge ? With that sort of mark up, there would be no need to claim that credit card transaction charges need to be additionally factored in as well - are we to believe that US credit cards don't charge for their service ?
Apple always protests that it's adopting a uniform sales tax rate across all of Europe, but in the US, sales tax varies from state to state and Apple can accomodate that with no problem. What's so difficult about applying the correct sales tax rate for an entire country then ?
macker said:
One of the reasons for the higher price was taxes.
21% tax seems absurd here in the US. NYC I think is only 13% and that supports county, city, and most of the state government.
There are people who advocate doing away with all other taxes and replace them with a 15% national sales tax and then give the extra back to the people as a $5000 check per person.
value added taxes?
Europe has value added taxes and high ones. I have been told the European tax rate is much higher than that in the US. For example +19% is pretty high for a value added tax. But that is not Apple's doing. I actually pay 8% sales tax, so my total cost for a song is 1.07 US.
The thing to remember, however, is that with iTMS you buy just the songs you want. Instead of paying $15 for 4 good songs and 11 bad ones at some CD store you can just pay ~4 to 5 for the ones you want. If the artist are smart they track the sales by song and see what people like, then adjust to it.
This is good for everyone.
Europe has value added taxes and high ones. I have been told the European tax rate is much higher than that in the US. For example +19% is pretty high for a value added tax. But that is not Apple's doing. I actually pay 8% sales tax, so my total cost for a song is 1.07 US.
The thing to remember, however, is that with iTMS you buy just the songs you want. Instead of paying $15 for 4 good songs and 11 bad ones at some CD store you can just pay ~4 to 5 for the ones you want. If the artist are smart they track the sales by song and see what people like, then adjust to it.
This is good for everyone.
filipp said:Just FYI, indirect taxes (aka VAT) are 25% here in Sweden, and direct (income) taxes are 34%+
Take that!
/ f
But don't you get national health insurance? My income taxes (national and state) are more than 34 percent--probably closer to 40. My sales tax is almost 10 percent, and I have to pay for health care out of my own pocket. Personally I'd take your tax structure, plus free health care, over ours.