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I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

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Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#51

Post by greiskul »

forty wrote: post #44
stavros wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad had the same reaction when I told him that we'd pay the extra credit card fees. He said "the merchant pays those" and didn't seem to get my "where do you think the merchant gets the money from?" reply.

Depending on the product and the competition on the market of that product, the merchant might also take the extra fees from their margins rather than raise prices.

Yeah, this argument doesn't always hold water. If a seller could increase their price without affecting their sales volume, why wouldn't they have done so already to generate more profit? The price product of most major companies is at what the company assumes will provide them the most profit in the demand curve. So by increasing the cost for the company with a tax, it doesn't necessarily follow that the maximum profit possible will be one where the tax is entirely passed to the consume.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#52

Post by oblio »

dan-robertson wrote: post #35
tomxor wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^this In most countries Apple's market is the top 1%

This sentence looks plausible, but easy to misinterpret by reading it incorrectly. For example, I think most Apple device users are middle-income Americans or middle-high income people from other developed countries.

Most countries are poor and Apple devices are expensive. Why are you hacknernews-splaining their comment when it's obvious what they meant?

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#53

Post by Brajeshwar »

Ah! Today morning, I woke up to the news of the new Apple products everywhere including Hackernews. As usual, for the kicks, I tried customizing the total spec-out version of the Apple Mac Studio.

This is costlier than most typical cars on Indian roads. And the Mac Studio cost do not include the keyboard, mouse, and monitor which is needed to make it the bare minimum usable computer.

https://twitter.com/brajeshwar/status/1501440907295752193

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#54

Post by low_tech_love »

dan-robertson wrote: post #35
tomxor wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^this In most countries Apple's market is the top 1%

This sentence looks plausible, but easy to misinterpret by reading it incorrectly. For example, I think most Apple device users are middle-income Americans or middle-high income people from other developed countries.

In America yes, and also in Europe for example. I come from Brazil and live in northern Europe and having an iPhone here means absolutely nothing because everyone can afford it, even though it is still expensive. It’s simply that the gap between rich and poor is small, so you get to play the same game. But in an extremely unequal place like Brazil the economy works differently. It’s like a tug of war where 1% from one side pull as strongly as the rest on the other side. There is a huge gap in-between, and the same deals sometimes won’t work on both sides.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#55

Post by throwamon »

dan-robertson wrote: post #35
tomxor wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

^this In most countries Apple's market is the top 1%

This sentence looks plausible, but easy to misinterpret by reading it incorrectly. For example, I think most Apple device users are middle-income Americans or middle-high income people from other developed countries.

A Mac in Brazil costs literally 1 year worth of salary if you're poor, if you're lucky enough to have a source of income at all. Even as you go up the class hierarchy, most people are in debt (over 70% of families if I'm not mistaken).

Edit: A Macbook Pro costs 3 years of minimum wage. https://themacindex.com/variants/MKGT3/macbook-pro-14-inch-m...

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#56

Post by lozenge »

ksec wrote: post #47

iPhone 13 cost R$ 7,599.00, or Roughly $1500 in USD. Compared to $799 in US. On a 30% Import Tax, and a maximum of VAT for Import product alone makes it ~$1250 already. For unstable currency ( comparatively speaking ) Apple tends to hedge at least 15% rate, that makes it around $1437. Apple tends to add a few pcenctage more for those countries with extra consumer protection. ( As in EUR ). So I dont think it is that…

You call it the unstable currency adjustment, somebody else can call it the "phone is already unaffordable, let's go further to make it a luxury status symbol" adjustment.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#57

Post by Synaesthesia »

wtmt wrote: post #13

A few comments on this from an Indian perspective. Apple products are quite expensive here too, when compared against U.S. prices (plus sales tax). It may seem as if this is because of customs duties, but that’s not the entire story. Many companies tend to have geographically differentiated pricing to expand their market and make more money. Even if the prices aren’t completely matching the local currency equivalent…

Yes Apppe basically doesnt bother trying to be competitive in countries outside the US. I guess they don't mind since their products still sell and they're raking in huge profits.

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#58

Post by andai »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #53

Ah! Today morning, I woke up to the news of the new Apple products everywhere including Hackernews. As usual, for the kicks, I tried customizing the total spec-out version of the Apple Mac Studio. This is costlier than most typical cars on Indian roads. And the Mac Studio cost do not include the keyboard, mouse, and monitor which is needed to make it the bare minimum usable computer. https://twitter.com/brajeshwar/st…

That's about 9000 euro, about the same as the "trashcan mac" (i forget the marketing name) when they were still selling them. I think this one is a bit faster though :)

Re: I live in the country with the most expensive Apple products on the planet

#59

Post by Brajeshwar »

andai wrote: post #58
Brajeshwar wrote: post #53

Ah! Today morning, I woke up to the news of the new Apple products everywhere including Hackernews. As usual, for the kicks, I tried customizing the total spec-out version of the Apple Mac Studio. This is costlier than most typical cars on Indian roads. And the Mac Studio cost do not include the keyboard, mouse, and monitor which is needed to make it the bare minimum usable computer. https://twitter.com/brajeshwar/st…

That's about 9000 euro, about the same as the "trashcan mac" (i forget the marketing name) when they were still selling them. I think this one is a bit faster though :)

Well, there was a hearty discussion when Apple opened their online store win India (Sep 23, 2020). The fully spec-out Mac Pro cost more than a typical home in most Indian city sub-urban area.

I made peace that day by earmarking the day with my first purchase -- an Apple Watch Band. ;-)

Check it out https://twitter.com/brajeshwar/status/1308632105711095809

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