Europe is ripping off Apple customers, for values of "ripping off" which mean "more or less listening to their expressed preferences that certain favored goods cost nothing at the margin and everything else costs a lot more."
Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
21–30 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#22In Australia, it's called "The Australia Tax". Partly, selling into another country is a bit of a headache. That's one reason why US businesses can do so well - they only need to succeed in a single jurisdiction and they'll make a lot of money. Yes, there's different state laws, but pretty much all countries have annoying state laws, and not all countries are as lucrative a market as California alone.
This is why there is the Euro also ;) Still missing a big manufacturer in there tho.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#23It's because of two years warranty, higher taxes, toll, and for more expensive items, smaller number of sold items.
It's not fair you singled-out Apple, since this is true for several gadgets I bought, software, or for example more expensive Canon lenses. It's not Apple specific thing.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#24It's simpler than that. They do it because they can.
Apple could charge allot less for everything they sell but they don't just because they can get away with it.
I'm sure nobody here really believes that the difference in price between countries has anything to do with keeping the profit margin the same everywhere :)
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#25I don't think it's that strange. Let's compare the cost of the same MacBook Air in the US and France. 1. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in US is $999. 2. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in France is €1,049 3. $1 = €0.80 at the current time. So you might think the MacBook Air should be €800 (999 * 0.80). So why it is €249 more? France levies 19.6% TVA (sales tax) on goods and the tax is included in the display price; the US le…
Apple garnered £6 billion in sales in the UK in 2010, and paid only £10 million in tax.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnol...
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#26To make it short: Because they can. As others have pointed out there are taxes, regulations and so on, but the main reason (in my opinion) is that they still make a very good profit in Europe, so why should they reduce prices? Apple is a business and businesses will do almost anything to make more profit (that's the reason they exist, nothing wrong here). p.s.: Steam has a similar policy and one could note that Steam…
That is not a Steam policy, that is a policy of publishers who distribute via Steam.
If you look at Valve's own game pricing, you will see the euro and dollar are almost on parity when you account for sales tax.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#27I don't think it's that strange. Let's compare the cost of the same MacBook Air in the US and France. 1. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in US is $999. 2. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in France is €1,049 3. $1 = €0.80 at the current time. So you might think the MacBook Air should be €800 (999 * 0.80). So why it is €249 more? France levies 19.6% TVA (sales tax) on goods and the tax is included in the display price; the US le…
Apple garnered £6 billion in sales in the UK in 2010, and paid only £10 million in tax. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnol...
That's corporation tax, not VAT. Completely different.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#28I don't think it's that strange. Let's compare the cost of the same MacBook Air in the US and France. 1. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in US is $999. 2. MacBook Air 11-inch : 64GB in France is €1,049 3. $1 = €0.80 at the current time. So you might think the MacBook Air should be €800 (999 * 0.80). So why it is €249 more? France levies 19.6% TVA (sales tax) on goods and the tax is included in the display price; the US le…
Apple garnered £6 billion in sales in the UK in 2010, and paid only £10 million in tax. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnol...
I have a feeling there might be some costs associated with revenues of $6bn.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, don't forget our lovely European regulations. The costs of hiring employees and handling business in Europe is higher than in US if I'm not mistaken. Finally, I'd guess that Apple pays its contractors in USD. So if today 1 USD = 0.8 EUR, Apple needs to consider the fact that tomorrow it may be 1 USD = 0.9 EUR, and the price needs to reflect this scenario as well (they cannot change the price every single month…
The european regulations are cheap compared to the legal risks of operating in the states. So, thats not it. Exchange rate? You keep assuming prices are based on costs. They are not. They are based on profit. So, when the population in a country has more money to spent, or better but, there where the median, rather than the average, income is the highest, the prices will be too. So, its cheap in the US because americ…
>The european regulations are cheap compared to the legal risks of operating in the states.
Cite?
Re: Ask HN: Why is Apple ripping of European users? 1€ ≠ 1$
#30In Europe you are forced to give your customer 2 years of warranty on certain products. E.g. computer hardware or electronics. Apple refused to in the past (and still had their crazy EUR prices then). But now, after being dragged to court about it in Italy, and loosing, they at least have a good reason to charge more in Europe. ;) This is the case for most vendors. E.g. my Panasonic GH2 camera did cost a bit more in…
But this 1$ = 1€ rule has been there for much more time. This can't be the main reason. As another poster wrote, I think the reason is rather "because they can". They may have charged a premium back in the 80s or 90s and just kept it because it worked.
As I wrote, they did have crazy EUR prices before, compared to USD.
When you ask any sales rep. of any big brand in Europe about this, they always use the "24 months warranty vs 12 months elsewhere" excuse.
I'd never buy anything from Apple, so I don't know what excuse they used, being that they illegally dodged the warranty in the past. All I am saying is that they now have both a good excuse as well as a good reason. Anything mechanical is heaps more likely to fail after 24 months than it is after 12.