Why does Apple choose to be local?

[emir]

OK, let's face it. Most of you guys(United States residents) don't know this but Apple is local, only US can use them fully functional. In other countries they are really expensive, the other countries are always at the background. Apple is not advertising enough. They just don't care about the world other than US. It really sucks, for ex. in my country(Turkey) prices are doubled, 1699$ low-end MBP is 2735$ here. Plus you don't get enough support, no Turkish Mac, no advertisements, not even stores. Your initial response is going to be "well there is no market." That is completely wrong, though there are no official releases Apple sold more than 100.000 iphones and there are more than a 100.000 unofficial, unlocked and jailbroken iphones.(because iPhone was the only device properly advertised, not by Apple but by carriers) If Apple were to advertise, lower the prices a little bit, give support Macintoshes can rule Pcs in the world.

This post is actually is a complaint of mine. For example, i am going to need a laptop for university this summer and i am starting to think " are there any friends who are studying in us, who can bring me a mac" i shouldn't be doing that, i should be able to get support with proper prices and people should know about Apple(i know because i follow Apple us, my citizens don't, they should know with advertisement, apple has the power to do that and sell) I am researching customs in Turkey to get a macbook, i am constantly thinking if it will clear the customs or not. To get a mac is just torture. What i don't get is Apple has the power and countries have the market but they don't go there. Is it because they will think it will lose the magic? Not just Turkey think of any country and you will encounter the same problems.

emir


p.s: Apple isn't even official here, there is a distributor, they have stores less than 10, i've spoken to one of the staff in the store and he told that they were getting the Macs from France. The staff also sucks, they don't know anything. Apple should officially come here !!

 

[MacDawg]

So you need to contact Apple and voice your opinion
We have no affiliation or influence with Apple here

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[covisio]

No problems obtaining Mac stuff in the UK, nor would I guess in most of the rest of the EU.
We do pay 'more' though, i.e. Mac Mini: US store 599 US dollars; UK store 510 GBP, actual exchange rate is approx 1.62 USD to 1 GBP therefore 510 GBP = 826 USD!!!!!!!
That means 227 USD is spent on what? Shipping? - well, they're all shipped from the Far East anyway. UK/EU import duty? Yes. Tasty markup for no apparent reason? Definitely. People still buy 'em, though.
Maybe, if and when Turkey joins the EU, things might get better.

 

[emir]

No problems obtaining Mac stuff in the UK, nor would I guess in most of the rest of the EU.
We do pay 'more' though, i.e. Mac Mini: US store 599 US dollars; UK store 510 GBP, actual exchange rate is approx 1.62 USD to 1 GBP therefore 510 GBP = 826 USD!!!!!!!
That means 227 USD is spent on what? Shipping? - well, they're all shipped from the Far East anyway. UK/EU import duty? Yes. Tasty markup for no apparent reason? Definitely. People still buy 'em, though.
Maybe, if and when Turkey joins the EU, things might get better.

i don't think that we would join. First thing would be emigration to Europe from Turkey's east and middle-eastern side. Not every Turkish is like the people on the west side, believe me huge difference anyways, i even mailed this issue to steve@mac.com i don't know if anybody reads those e-mails but i just sent one, no harm trying

 

[ComicStix]

I don't know if you don't like it so much why don't you just buy online at the apple store or move to a different country? I don't know what to tell ya.

 

[MTI]

There could be all sorts of reason; cost of doing business includes taxes, tariffs, licensing, permits, certifications (you EU folks know about those) and other costs that aren't part of the US market.

 

[neiltc13]

No problems obtaining Mac stuff in the UK, nor would I guess in most of the rest of the EU.
We do pay 'more' though, i.e. Mac Mini: US store 599 US dollars; UK store 510 GBP, actual exchange rate is approx 1.62 USD to 1 GBP therefore 510 GBP = 826 USD!!!!!!!
That means 227 USD is spent on what? Shipping? - well, they're all shipped from the Far East anyway. UK/EU import duty? Yes. Tasty markup for no apparent reason? Definitely. People still buy 'em, though.
Maybe, if and when Turkey joins the EU, things might get better.

You need to remove the Value Added Tax from the UK price to perform a fair comparison. The US price does not include sales tax. The Mac mini you speak of is £434.50 with its UK tax removed, which is $700.98 at today's rates. Not a huge difference there really.

 

[Ugg]

Over 50% of Apple's sales come from outside the USA. It's only been the last 3 years or so that Apple started to build stores in Europe and Asia. I think Apple is very cautious in expanding its presence because it wants to do it well, not halfway.

I do feel sorry for you but I disagree that Apple is only local.

 

[Synchromesh]

I think computer stuff is generally cheapest (comparing to average income) in USA. I know a few people from Israel and they told me that Macs are very expensive there, sometimes up to 2x. One of my friends who went down there recently has in the last few months bought a Macbook Pro, a netbook and an HP laptop for friends and relatives because they would pay several hundreds of dollars more for same machine over there.

 

[miles01110]

I think computer stuff is generally cheapest (comparing to average income) in USA. I know a few people from Israel and they told me that Macs are very expensive there, sometimes up to 2x. One of my friends who went down there recently has in the last few months bought a Macbook Pro, a netbook and an HP laptop for friends and relatives because they would pay several hundreds of dollars more for same machine over there.

Welcome to the world of tariffs. It goes the other way too, but Israel doesn't export a lot of things Americans buy en masse.