APPLE exchange Rates

apope8

I know this has been prob bn addressed plenty a times. but i cant see a thread relating to it so i taughti'd give it a shot.

WHAT in the holy name of JE-BUS is the deal with the exchange rates between the U.S. apple store and the irsh apple store. They are non-existent!!

few examples of price difference using $ to € exchange rates as at November 07:

Ipod Touch 8gb $299 - - - €299 !!!€93 EXTRA!!!
Mac Mini $599 - - - €599 !!!€184 EXTRA!!!
Macbook Pro $1999 - - €1899 !!!€515 EXTRA!!!
I'Mac $1199 - - €1199 !!!€369 EXTRA!!!

Is there something different or extra in the european macs that they can justify these price hikes.
or are they jus been sly lil ...... and chancing there arms with it. If any one has a valid explanation please share!!!

ZENER

Makin' hay while the sun shines I think. Maybe next year when the euro is worth less than the dollar we will benefit - I doubt it somehow but we live in hope.

It does seem very unfair but I wonder if they're underpricing the American products because of the economy rather than over pricing the European items.

What about other American companies like Creative and Intel or Microsoft. How much is Windows Vista to buy stateside ? Windows Vista Ultimate is 470 euro on Dabs.ie compared to 340 dollars on bargain station.com - now that is ripping people off. Please don't hit back with . . . . but windows vista oem blah blah. Like with like !

ZEN

apope8

ha thats like double the price and imho Vista is useless iv had so much trouble with it its unbelievable.

Thats why i'm changing to mac.

babypink

its quite naive to simply do a like-for-like comparison. There are different taxation and regulatory systems, varying degrees of legal liability, different market variables at play (build/distribution/margin figures) etc....

Its one thing doing the comparison if you're taking a trip to the states and want to pick up something but european prices are unlikely to go down anytime soon, IMO. Zen is right about it not just being Apple - it's pretty typical across the board.

Kid Nothing

All prices are region specific. They charge the prices that they think people are willing to pay, which seems to be working given the amount of people with iPods, it's pretty much the same with everything. Clothes, electronics, cd's, etc. it's a great benefit of the Celtic Tiger.......we have more money so companies charge more!

mathias

Just a thought , but dont forget that Americans always list prices ex sales tax , if your take that into account and add the 7% ( or just over ) , then add the 21% VAT for Ireland , and all the prices fall into line.

Might not be the case , but mathematically if you add 28% to each it adds up.

So , say you bought in the states , add the sales tax , then you got nabbed by customs for 21% on the way home , then you'd have paid the same.

ZENER

^^^^^
Swot !!!

ZEN

440Hz

Next thread about prices is getting moved to consumer issues!! Ahhhhhhhh