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Steve Jobs Weighs in on iPad International Pricing and Taxes
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Exactly.
I would guess that he, like most high-ranking execs, have administrative assistants to weed through their mail. He probably has one to read his fake public email where people complain about the excessive taxation in their countries, and one for people who actually need to get in touch with him.
Thought the point about higher costs of business adding to the increased of devices was also quite interesting. The VAT is obvious and in your face, but not operating costs.
I skipped reading five pages of people bitching here so if this was addressed, my apologies.
Does anyone know what what the emails TO Jobs even said? What if these people were coming at him with crap like "Hey Stevo, WTF is with these high prices? Why does the States get such preferential treatment? Why do you hate Europeans?". If I were Jobs and got a bunch of that crap I'd have been much more blunt than he was.
My point is this entire thing is taken out of context. Be happy he even responded. Hell, if you're going to email him directly and he takes the time to respond you should print that email out and frame it.
Does anyone know what what the emails TO Jobs even said? What if these people were coming at him with crap like "Hey Stevo, WTF is with these high prices? Why does the States get such preferential treatment? Why do you hate Europeans?". If I were Jobs and got a bunch of that crap I'd have been much more blunt than he was.
My point is this entire thing is taken out of context. Be happy he even responded. Hell, if you're going to email him directly and he takes the time to respond you should print that email out and frame it.
Lol this should be stickied at the top of every forum.
Hopefully this will end all of the threads that start out... "Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh why does Apple <Insert Product> cost so much in my country?" "Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhh why does the US get everything cheaper?"
If I lived in germany I would pirate all media. I mean if I have to pay fines for a crime I have not committed I might as well start getting Music and movies from torrents since technically I paid for it by being taxed for no reason to enrich Puff daddy and the Rolling stones.
People - it's really simple. Apple (or any other company) can charge whatever they want for their products. If they want to charge 5x the price in xxxxxx, they can. You can buy them or not - it's up to you. The end.
As for Steve's reply, he could have said something like - "Are you stupid? Do you not even have enough brains in your head to know that you pay more tax on everything you buy and thats it's already in the listed price? Maybe your mommy and daddy will explain it to you someday." Now that would be rude. His reply was to the point and right on IMO.
As for Steve's reply, he could have said something like - "Are you stupid? Do you not even have enough brains in your head to know that you pay more tax on everything you buy and thats it's already in the listed price? Maybe your mommy and daddy will explain it to you someday." Now that would be rude. His reply was to the point and right on IMO.
I think it's only for locations where Apple has a building. If your state has a sales tax, but Apple doesn't have an actual building there, I don't think they have to charge the tax. Also, if you have a city sales tax but Apple doesn't operate in the city, I don't think they charge that.
States and cities are complaining of lost taxes, but there isn't much they legally can do just yet. They are supposed to be harmonizing sales tax laws to take the confusion out of what is taxable, that would legally set the stage for requiring sales tax collection from business outside your borders, but they complain rather than doing the work. For example, in some areas, donuts and bagels are taxed differently and they've all given up on trying to agree on silly stuff like that.
I thought they EU was working on collecting cross-border VAT, where businesses are required to collect VAT for customers outside their country and send them to the customer's government.
US immigrations laws make that impossible for most people.
Politics aside, as well as the issue of comparing prices without taking in account the inclusion VAT, people always tend to use the mid-market exchange rates. These are the averaged prices and not those that companies will get from their bank, who will increase the rate to take their own cut.
Also, in response to the person who added 10% import tax for the UK prices, this should not apply. Portable computers are rated at 0% customs duty, and this should cover the iPad.
Michael.
He was always nice to me. We talked several times on campus. Perhaps he was in a good mood at the time.
Here in the Commonwealth of Australia, we have a GST - Goods and Service Tax which on electronics like the iPad is 10% of the price, so a AU$1,000 item would have a $AU 100 tax. This is the same rate throughout Australia. This was brought in apparently to get rid of the Wholesale Sales Tax arrangement which was a higher rate, but only on computer hardware, etc and not applied to everything including all electricity and internet bills, food, etc. Personally, the Wholesale Sales Tax system was better as it did not apply to everything. So now, in effect we pay a tax for an item of our own personal use.
Those customers were so enchanted by Steve and his keynotes that they not only expected a reply from him, but a friendlier one!
If I were them, I wouldn't buy the iPad!
Those are not his employees. He pays his employees therefore he gets to be rude with them. Users are different because they are the ones who pay him whether he likes it or not!
I think Steve and others are missing the point here. Yes, the prices are "fair" when compared to their US equivalents but they by no means offer good value for money.
The cheapest iPad is £429 - that's double what you'd pay for a cheap netbook and more than some full-spec laptops cost. With the limitations on what you can use an iPad for and what you can connect to it things look very bad for the device here indeed.
The top end 64GB 3G model is £699 - that's the same price they used to sell a MacBook for. How can anyone justify paying this much for what is effectively a media player with a larger screen?
The cheapest iPad is £429 - that's double what you'd pay for a cheap netbook and more than some full-spec laptops cost. With the limitations on what you can use an iPad for and what you can connect to it things look very bad for the device here indeed.
The top end 64GB 3G model is £699 - that's the same price they used to sell a MacBook for. How can anyone justify paying this much for what is effectively a media player with a larger screen?
One thing I think we as a whole tend to forget people considered in the Genius lot tend to lose other social concepts, as basic manners and general manners. It's been noted this has been the case with others including Einstein. Trying to locate the journal for those who would like to read more.
It's about $40 more expensive. Given that the exchange rate floats, $40 is a reasonable buffer.
My Porsche cost me more to buy in the U.S. than it would have cost me to buy in Germany. That's life.
While it's not the equivalent to a laptop, but to write it off as just a media player with a larger screen is not correct either, it has far more functionality that you're ignoring when you make a statement like that.
The US consumer will face the same taxes as Europeans do soon enough. Don't worryIts all merging into one inefficient system.
Only if you sit back and do nothing about it! NOTHIING'S inevitable, pal.
So your definition of "much" is roughly 5-6%? Taking out VAT and the copyright levy leaves you with a 5-6% increase in price and once you take into consideration the cost of doing business in Germany.
This is a trivial example, but a point worth making nevertheless - Apple operates toll free numbers in Europe. HP, Dell, Samsung, Lufthansa, KLM - all service numbers.
This thread is not about the perceived value you or I may have concerning the iPad. The thread is whether or not European prices are fundamentally unfair compared to American - which when looking at the numbers, demonstrates they are not unfair.
Enough with the hyperbole. Levying a VAT wouldn't end free market capitalism, nice job conflating two different things. If it did, then most states already don't have free market capitalism with their sales taxes.