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UK Price vs US Price - Why did apple discount the US price but not UK?

fluidedge

fluidedge

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 1, 2007
1,365
16
US: $229 (~£115)
UK: £199 (~$400)

WTF? When Apple reduced the price of the Apple TV in the US i thought it was a global price cut. This isn't just a case of rip off britain. There is a serious rick in the price here. Can we try :apple:TV Take 3? Because if apple don't do something ASAP on the price it'll be the worst failure since the Macbook Air.
 
Firstly this has been covered many times before. Secondly you have to add Taxes on after the price. Thirdly they earn in USD we earn in GBP so the prices are OK. Fourthly the US are in a bad recession and need cheap items to keep afloat the EU aren't as bad as US yet.

Stop complaining about prices.
 
Even if you add taxes (+15% seemed like a reasonable number. I'm not quite sure what the average US tax is) and convert it you get about £140 so the cost is still far less than what we pay.

I'm thinking about scoring one of these on ebay
 
northy124 said:
Firstly this has been covered many times before. Secondly you have to add Taxes on after the price. Thirdly they earn in USD we earn in GBP so the prices are OK. Fourthly the US are in a bad recession and need cheap items to keep afloat the EU aren't as bad as US yet.

Stop complaining about prices.
Click to expand...

Really. So why are all the other products Apple sell fairly priced except this one then? :confused:
 
they appear to be selling them more or less at cost following the introduction of film rentals and there has been no corresponding price cut here (uk). it seems like the price cut was to kick start the film rental business and for whatever reason they haven't decided to try the same thing here.
 
applemax said:
Really. So why are all the other products Apple sell fairly priced except this one then? :confused:
Click to expand...

We have screw all in the way of films as well which the US has so that plays a role in it, Films subsides the TV same that iTS subsides the iPod with music sales. Not sure on other products as I don't know many of the factors behind them.
 
??? AT&T is subsidizing the price of the phone...apparently other carriers aren't. This isn't "Apple" doing it.
 
taxes don't come into it - i'm talking about the price cut SJ announced at the MW keynote. It happened for the US but not for the rest of the world. Thats bad and thats exactly why i won't be buying the apple TV.
 
northy124 said:
Firstly this has been covered many times before. Secondly you have to add Taxes on after the price. Thirdly they earn in USD we earn in GBP so the prices are OK. Fourthly the US are in a bad recession and need cheap items to keep afloat the EU aren't as bad as US yet.

Stop complaining about prices.
Click to expand...

Not one these is a valid reason for the huge discrepancy. Especially your last comment.
 
weckart said:
Not one these is a valid reason for the huge discrepancy. Especially your last comment.
Click to expand...

It's completely valid, who else is going to float Apple's profits during these times of hardship, it is us, the chosen people of rip-off britain whose mighty pound will carve a force of profit never before seen in these times of hardship.

If... in your heart, you find yourself doubting that, why, why i ask you do you use apple. Why do you believe in them, if you bit into the great Apple and found the taste bitter instead of sweet, i implore you to go back to Microsoft. For we have no wish to consort with your type. Unbeliever.

(gosh, i hope this isn't taken seriously)
 
Get used to the pricing

Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Sony and the Music and Film industry (and many others) see europe as an area to rip people off.

Some are worse than others, generally Apple are within a few percent of the US prices (once UK VAT and Import Duty are factored in), Microsoft are o.k. with some, but seem to shaft you with Vista. Sony have done their best to stop you importing cheaper products from abroad (though many now use US/CA exporters for games).

However the winner of the golden 'Shaft You' award goes to Adobe.

CS3 $650 (around £325) £560. Even with 17.5% vat and a few % import duty they are still marking up by around £150. And in the UK we don't even get a localised version.

So Apple TV at £199, crap price, hence no-one has really bought into the idea here. For that price I can get a decent DVD/HDD Recorder (with freeview).
 
Kebabselector said:
Get used to the pricing

Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Sony and the Music and Film industry (and many others) see europe as an area to rip people off.

Some are worse than others, generally Apple are within a few percent of the US prices (once UK VAT and Import Duty are factored in), Microsoft are o.k. with some, but seem to shaft you with Vista. Sony have done their best to stop you importing cheaper products from abroad (though many now use US/CA exporters for games).

However the winner of the golden 'Shaft You' award goes to Adobe.

CS3 $650 (around £325) £560. Even with 17.5% vat and a few % import duty they are still marking up by around £150. And in the UK we don't even get a localised version.

So Apple TV at £199, crap price, hence no-one has really bought into the idea here. For that price I can get a decent DVD/HDD Recorder (with freeview).
Click to expand...

good call! I'll look into one of those. Also Sky+ is awesome, my brother has it. Shame because at £130 i might have gone for it.
 
Aegelward said:
It's completely valid, who else is going to float Apple's profits during these times of hardship, it is us, the chosen people of rip-off britain whose mighty pound will carve a force of profit never before seen in these times of hardship.

If... in your heart, you find yourself doubting that, why, why i ask you do you use apple. Why do you believe in them, if you bit into the great Apple and found the taste bitter instead of sweet, i implore you to go back to Microsoft. For we have no wish to consort with your type. Unbeliever.

(gosh, i hope this isn't taken seriously)
Click to expand...

It will be ;)
 
If you really want to look at the pricing structure, compare the TV and the iPods, then it REALLY throws the price Tax/Exchange rate argument out of the water.
 
Remember that in the US a local sales tax is added onto the price (i'm sure it varies from state to state).

I checked the 8gb and 80gb ipods

8G US price (converted 2:1) with UK Vat works out to be around £118 (UK RRP £129)
80gb is around £146 (RRP £159)

I've not factored in any import duty (cos I don't know how much it would be).

I won't defend the Apple TV price though.....that said if BBC iPlayer worked on it (like the Windows Media Player version, allows decent downloads rather than a stream) i'd buy one tomorrow!
 
If you think you are getting ripped off in the UK, you should check Belgium out. The iPhone here is 525 euros, including TVA and the cheapest plan is 30 euro/month with only 20 Mb of data :mad:

Lat time I checked 525 Euros were over 800 U.S. pesos :(

On the plus side, our phones are unlocked and can be used with any provider...Not that it matters for they are all rip offs and the country is so small that if you blink you are abroad...with international roaming charges

I am thinking that with such high US subsidies, the iPhone will loose much of its appeal.. Maybe I'll just pick up a Nokia E71 instead... They are not subsidized in the U.S. and they are much better phones ;)
 
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