US buyers get lowest price for Apple's iPad 2, Demark most expensive - Page 2

Yes, and no. Because apart from taxes, there are also differences in regulation that potentially cost Apple money. For instance, buying extended warranty in The Netherlands (e.g. Apple Care) is pretty useless as you are already covered by law for defective products depending on a normal lifetime of a product (something sellers try to hush up or deny generally, so most people are unaware).

Of all Apple products the iPad is possibly one of the mire closely matched. If you look at Apple tv in the UK that's £101 ($160) and in the US its $99 + tax.

The tax things been mentioned quite a bit and I think that's probably a cultural difference. In the UK people don't really think of the price before tax, and as tax changes the price of products don't so much.

Whys it meaningless, its an accurate way of comparing the value. If you were to buy an iPad from a Greek store using an American credit card, the bank would do the conversion and that is what you would pay.

It doesn't matter that he earns euros rather than dollars as there interchangeable. Just like when he spends his euros on the iPad Apple will change it back into dollars.

They price according to the market. They can't afford to do any other thing. Using exchange rated prices to make comparisons is a purely abstract exercise that only tells you that some currencies are more highly valued than others at any given moment. As you say, that relationship constantly changes, but local prices do not generally, because pricing is set for products in the local markets, not at some "world price" denominated locally in local currencies.

The Financial Times publishes their "Burgernomics" statistics every year, using one product (the McDonald's Big Mac) as the basis of their product price comparison. Same burger, very different prices all around the world. Last year they showed that a Big Mac costs almost four times as much in Norway as it does in Hong Kong. The Norwegians can gripe all they want, but they can still only buy Big Macs in their country with their currency. They are paying the local market price and they cannot order out to Hong Kong. If they want to enjoy a cheap burger then they need to buy it in another country. Obvious right? Apparently not. Whenever stories like this come out, you start hearing the "order out" logic applied to consumer goods.

Yes, you'd pay the Greek market price, because you are in Greece. The same is true in every other country and currency. If you wanted to get the benefit of your highly valued euros vs. the dollar you'd have to come to the US to make the purchase. The fact that the credit card company figures your exchange rate isn't of any consequence.

That reminds me of years ago when I was accepted to the University of Copenhagen -- I was sharing the news with my coworkers, and one of the women I worked with asked me again where it was I was going, and I replied, "Denmark." She responded excitedly, "Oh I LOVE New Zealand ... you're going to have a great time!" I didn't know what to say at first ... of course, I also had a whole bunch of people asking me if I already spoke Dutch, so not surprising really. "They speak Danish in Denmark?!? I thought they spoke Dutch ...," "No," I would say, "they speak Danish ... Dutch is the Netherlands."

That being said ... I don't find it very surprising the iPad is more expensive there. I lived in Denmark for years, and they have all kinds of ridiculous taxes on everything you buy. The cost of living is generally higher as well ... last I checked Copenhagen was still somewhere in the top three list of most expensive cities in the world. For example, a 16 ounce bottle of Coke one can purchase for about a dollar here in the US costs about three dollars in Denmark. About the only thing that is cheaper in Denmark than in the US is Carlsberg beer, and hot dogs ...

I know what I'd be living on.

In Canada, every iPad model is $20 more expensive than in the U.S.A, despite the fact that the Canadian dollar is worth 1.02 US$.

When you factor in the useless, low quality cameras, and the rumor that the iPad 3 will be launched next Fall (see http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/09/...his-september/), the iPad 2 looks very much like an overpriced piece of junk.

Quality has to go in before I buy! ™

Ouch! I stand corrected.

It's not really comparable. It is expensive only for travelers. Southern California is a lot more expensive to live in than Copenhagen. When I worked in Copenhagen I made 45% more than I do now (before tax and I got 33% income tax in Denmark compared to 28% here), yet the rent is the same price. jeg boede i københavn fra februar 2009 til 2011. jeg også arbejdede på KU. Though it was quite a shock going to Halifax and paying 330 dkk for two burgers and two beers.

and by the way...(not to blursd) kroner is plural krone is singular...it means crown(s)

The Big Mac index is some measure of the relative cost of living - salaries vs. taxes, rent, food, etc. So doing the Big Mac index thing on the iPad 2 price in Denmark, I get

One Big Mac (standard issue) costs 27,00 DKK incl. VAT, the base iPad 2, costing 3699 DKK incl. VAT, hence

iPad 2 (Denmark) = 137 Big Macs

The iPad 2 price where I live (Australia) is not too bad.

iPad 2 WiFi 16GB = $AU 579
Take off 10% national sales tax = $AU 526
Convert to US dollars: $US 539

So we are paying $40 more since it cost $US499 in the US. I don't think that's too bad because we are a lot smaller market with less competition. You need a massive, competitive economy like the US to drop that last 40.

It's actually The Economist I believe.

Ummm ... I was born and raised in Southern California (for the most part ... From grades 7-10 I lived in Brazil), and I lived in Copenhagen for four years, then Sweden for another three. I don't really agree with your assertion that Southern California is more expensive than Denmark. Yes, you do make more in Denmark, but the cost of living is also much higher than even here in San Diego (and we have the second highest cost of living in California ... behind San Francisco). Food costs twice to three times as much, transportation costs are about the same, and the taxes are higher (I also know for a fact the lowest tax rate in Denmark is 36% ... So I'd really lime to know how you were paying 33% in taxes). Most people pay 40-60% in taxes on their income. The state provides a lot of services, but you aren't really given a choice on paying them out of your paycheck though. I worked it out when I lived and worked in Denmark about $800 was taken out of my paycheck every month just for healthcare. I make about the same now here in California and I pay about $400 a month for my healthcare. In Copenhagen I spent about $100 a week on groceries and I hardly bought anything. By comparison I can spend $60 here for about the same amount of food, and that's after seven years on inflation on the dollar. And buying clothes in Denmark ... Forget it. The same jeans and tee shirts I could buy in Southern California for $100 and $20 (respectively) were $200 and $40 in Denmark. Even the Big Mac meal at McDonalds in Copenhagen was over $10 for the same thing you got in the US for $4.

When it's released in Hong Kong, I have no doubt we'll have the cheapest after-tax price in the world, outside of those few states that have no sales tax.

No, not really.

Denmark is just a tiny country with a small population. Even though the difference between rich and poor has increased a bit the Danish government (no matter which party is leading) wants everyone to be equal. So, if you're working your ass off, earning more than the typical Dane, taxes just increase for your part (a lot). The older and mid-age generation believe in the so-called "Jante Law" which "negatively portrays and criticizes success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate" (from Wiki, but pretty accurate). So, even though you're running a company, creating tons of jobs for the population and paying higher taxes, thus contributing more and more to the society, you're considered a bad person. It's just a bad, bad attitude and some parts of the younger generation are also disregarding this principle (most just move away for some time).
Sure, we have benefits, too, such as free basic education but if you want a good education you need to pay either way - also in Denmark.

Denmark is very, very expensive. I have been a lot of places in the world but live in the very center of Copenhagen. Yes, we make more but the taxes are also extremely high.

And hey, our cars cost triple! Car price + 180 % in taxes. The politicians then use this money for champagne and expensive trips.. ehh, I meant roads and bridges.. :-)

It's actually a relative measure of currency valuations. The "expensive" Big Mac countries are said to have relatively overvalued currencies, etc.


Doh. Quite right.

It is more of a straight up comparison country by country if tax is not included, That says what Apple is charging, not the local governments. Apple cannot control tax.

Lots of things go into pricing, exchange rates, transportation costs, retail costs... I believe the most overlooked here is how much are consumers WILLING to pay? Supply and Demand is very relevant here. Taking the tax out of the price & converting the currency, then expecting the price to be the same as in another country? We might want that to be true, but unlikely. Apple charges what they think we'll pay. In some places people pay more, as the competition is different.

You can certainly complain to Apple about price, but if the iPad 2 sells like hotcakes in your area, they won't care.

The cost of living in Scandinavia in general is very high, I've always been told, even by people who lived there. A few years ago, Oslo was listed as the most expensive in the world, passing Tokyo. My own experience in Stavanger, Norway was that things were very expensive. I recall paying about 58 kroner for two air mail post cards, about $9 US at the time. A meal for one person was about $50 US. I have never been to Denmark, but have told it is very similar. The Scandinavian countries always are very high on standard of living, so I guess people can still afford to buy things...

Beautiful countries, both, though! Love to go there!

Love my new iPad and orange smart cover. Lined up 2.5 hours before they went on sale at one of the small, obscure resellers in Sydney. I thought 2.5 hours was cutting it fine, but, surprisingly, there were only 6 people waiting in line. About an hour before launch the line was about 50+ deep. I really enjoyed the line up experience, chatting with the other Apple enthusiasts.

Lots of bystanders asked why so many people were lining up. We managed to convince a few that we were auditioning for Australian Idol/Next Top Model.

State sales tax varies but it is generally between 6-10% except for the handful of states that have no sales taxes.

typically large cities have higher rates as they are able to tack extra taxes onto the state rates. Sales tax is 7% in Indiana, so the $499 ipad 2 cost me about $530.

how does it work over there, you have vat which is basically the same thing except tax is included in the sticker price, right?

- edit - Just read up on taxation in the UK, 40% on anything over 35k/yr AND 20% VAT? no wonder there are riots over cutting government services, no one has any money to take care of themselves as teh government has stolen like 60% of personal income.

unfortunately, prices in Poland are even higher for the entry level iPad2: 2049zl =512 or $719 :-(
VAT=23%

Malaysia is competing well in terms of iPad prices too, surprisingly.

BTW man is the AUD KILLING the USD right now. 1.03 - All time highs!

Australian pricing for iPad 2 - OK, not mind-blowing, but not too much "premium".

Masterchef using iPads as cutting boards. A real mash-up (hurr... pun unintended) reality gameshow.

YES. US customers are losing out...! Because in many countries you get the UK style plug AS WELL AS the US plug. Same in Australia too. I got about at least five of them US style thingies lying around the house from past Mac purchases by the family.

Did the price of the iPad change between v1 and v2? In Australian dollars, not US.

Yeah it dropped a bit, about $50 to $100 AUD. iPad2 has been sold out like mad the past several days.

Apple is being very aggressive, in fact the most aggressive I've seen in a decade, with their iPad pricing.

So you're not paying a "premium" after all, and in fact your prices have dropped. They didn't go down in the US. This only goes toward showing the silliness of converting all prices to US dollars and claiming people abroad are "paying a premium" when in reality the "premium" is the weakness of the US dollar.