Apple says Developer Transition Kit must be returned by March 31

Posted:
in General Discussion edited February 2021
Apple in an email sent out on Friday requested developers who took part in the Universal App Quick Start Program to return the accompanying Developer Transition Kit, a custom A12Z Bionic-powered Mac mini designed to prepare app makers for Apple Silicon Macs.

DTK


According to the letter, program participants have until March 31, 2021, to return the loaned DTK to Apple.

"Now that the new MacBook Air, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro powered by the Apple M1 chip are available, you'll need to return the Developer Transition Kit (DTK) that was loaned to you as part of the program. Please follow the instructions below to return the DTK, at no cost to you," Apple says in a post to its dedicated Universal App Quick Start Program website.

Developer Steve Troughton-Smith, who lives in Europe, notes carrier DHL will begin to collect the devices in his region without prior warning starting March 8. That stands in contrast to U.S. protocols, which simply require developers to print out a prepaid shipping label and send the unit out via UPS.

Apple in the email reminds program members of a $500 one-time-use promo code that can be used toward the online purchase of a new M1 Mac or other Apple products. The code is not applicable to Apple Gift Cards and AppleCare+, the company says.

The company in early February notified members that it would soon request the return of DTK hardware. At the time, Apple said it would offer a $200 promotional code for the purchase of a 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or Mac mini equipped with an M1 chip, but later bumped that sum up to $500 -- the cost of a DTK lease -- after developers expressed disapproval of the original plan. Troughton-Smith says Apple is converting the $500 figure to local currency, a move that for some equates to a more than 100 euro loss.

Fitted with an A12Z, the Mac mini was equipped with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, two USB-C ports, two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet, trappings designed to mimic the first M1 Mac computers. It came loaded with a beta version of macOS Big Sur and Xcode 12.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    chadbagchadbag Posts: 1,999member
    The conversion of the $500 credit to local currency does not equate to a 100 euro “loss”.  That 100 euros allowed them access to the DTK machine for many months, allowing them to get their apps ready.  That covers the lease of the machine and is not a “loss”. 

    viclauyycgregoriusmbyronldewmeMplsPwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 21
    chadbag said:
    The conversion of the $500 credit to local currency does not equate to a 100 euro “loss”.  That 100 euros allowed them access to the DTK machine for many months, allowing them to get their apps ready.  That covers the lease of the machine and is not a “loss”. 

    I think they meant it's a 100 Euro loss in comparison to those who receive the promotion in dollars. I'm not sure if it has to do with the exchange rate or the initial purchase price difference in Eruos.
    edited February 2021 elijahgwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 21
    That makes no sense. When you convert $500 to Euros it’s a straight conversion. No loss
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 21
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member
    The quoted hyperlink to Troughton-Smith's Twitter post above is dead. The post no longer exists.

    There is something fishy about this.
    edited February 2021
  • Reply 5 of 21
    Anilu_777 said:
    That makes no sense. When you convert $500 to Euros it’s a straight conversion. No loss
    The rate is constantly in flux and the dollar has lost value since the kits were purchased last summer. So the refund is worth less to European developers than to US developers because of the exchange rate alone. I wish they had given the full calculation of how they arrived at that 100+ euro amount but the issue here is the disparity of the refund based on the difference in the purchase price and the refund in local currency.
    gregoriusmelijahgapplguywatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 21

    mpantone said:
    The quoted hyperlink to Troughton-Smith's Twitter post above is dead. The post no longer exists.

    There is something fishy about this.
    The US dollar is worth less than when Europeans bought the kit so a refund in dollars means they are getting less of a return on the initial purchase price than Americans. I'm not sure how they arrived at 100+ Euros but there is a difference. From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    elijahgwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 21
    I wonder what would happen if I drove to the address on the FedEx label and tried to hand deliver it back to Apple?
  • Reply 8 of 21
    I wonder what would happen if I drove to the address on the FedEx label and tried to hand deliver it back to Apple?
    Go for it. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 21
    Makes me wonder if the first new iMac is coming in March. I mean, rumors seem to point to later in 2021 for M2, but that’s a very long wait for this rumored iMac redesign. So maybe we’ll see a 24” M1 iMac with at least 32 GB memory sooner rather than later?

    Surely there are developers who would prefer to put their $500 toward an iMac, instead of having to use it on a laptop or a mini?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 21
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Makes me wonder if the first new iMac is coming in March. I mean, rumors seem to point to later in 2021 for M2, but that’s a very long wait for this rumored iMac redesign. So maybe we’ll see a 24” M1 iMac with at least 32 GB memory sooner rather than later?

    Surely there are developers who would prefer to put their $500 toward an iMac, instead of having to use it on a laptop or a mini?
    Only in your dreams
  • Reply 11 of 21

    mpantone said:
    The quoted hyperlink to Troughton-Smith's Twitter post above is dead. The post no longer exists.

    There is something fishy about this.
    The US dollar is worth less than when Europeans bought the kit so a refund in dollars means they are getting less of a return on the initial purchase price than Americans. I'm not sure how they arrived at 100+ Euros but there is a difference. From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    I checked and the kit was 500 USD NOT €500 so there was a conversion on the loan

    According to Google, on July 30, 2020 the conversion rate from $ to € was 0.84 (€420) while in on 27 Feb 2021 it is 0.83 (€415). So they are crying over €5 or 6.04 USD.  

    So they are crying over the equivalent of less then two 4 piece Mcdonlald's Chicken McNuggets Happy meals!  (around 7 USD)

    As I said before how does that make any sense or cents?! 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 21
    lkrupp said:
    Makes me wonder if the first new iMac is coming in March. I mean, rumors seem to point to later in 2021 for M2, but that’s a very long wait for this rumored iMac redesign. So maybe we’ll see a 24” M1 iMac with at least 32 GB memory sooner rather than later?

    Surely there are developers who would prefer to put their $500 toward an iMac, instead of having to use it on a laptop or a mini?
    Only in your dreams
    LOL
  • Reply 13 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
     From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    That’s what a lot of people think, but it’s actually due to sales tax not being included in the US price when it is in the European price. I’m planning on buying the iPhone 12 Mini 128 GB and I can get it for €140 less here in Europe than in the US. 
    roundaboutnowwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 21
    fred1 said:
     From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    That’s what a lot of people think, but it’s actually due to sales tax not being included in the US price when it is in the European price. I’m planning on buying the iPhone 12 Mini 128 GB and I can get it for €140 less here in Europe than in the US. 
    Actually they do.  The German version of Apple has 799,00 € with a rough VAT of 139,00 €. for the lowest end of the MacMini.  That gets you 660 € base which is USD 796.76. well over the base US$699 here in the states.
  • Reply 15 of 21
    Makes me wonder if the first new iMac is coming in March. I mean, rumors seem to point to later in 2021 for M2, but that’s a very long wait for this rumored iMac redesign. So maybe we’ll see a 24” M1 iMac with at least 32 GB memory sooner rather than later?

    Surely there are developers who would prefer to put their $500 toward an iMac, instead of having to use it on a laptop or a mini?

    Huh?  They'd certainly be better off getting an iMac now, while they're still worth having.

    Of course, they'd probably be even better off just reporting the dev kit "stolen" and sell it on ebay to some crazy collector.  Might even be able to buy a decent Intel Mac Pro that way.

    lkrupp said:
    Only in your dreamsnightmares
    FTFY
  • Reply 16 of 21
    maximara said:

    mpantone said:
    The quoted hyperlink to Troughton-Smith's Twitter post above is dead. The post no longer exists.

    There is something fishy about this.
    The US dollar is worth less than when Europeans bought the kit so a refund in dollars means they are getting less of a return on the initial purchase price than Americans. I'm not sure how they arrived at 100+ Euros but there is a difference. From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    I checked and the kit was 500 USD NOT €500 so there was a conversion on the loan

    According to Google, on July 30, 2020 the conversion rate from $ to € was 0.84 (€420) while in on 27 Feb 2021 it is 0.83 (€415). So they are crying over €5 or 6.04 USD.  

    So they are crying over the equivalent of less then two 4 piece Mcdonlald's Chicken McNuggets Happy meals!  (around 7 USD)

    As I said before how does that make any sense or cents?! 
    The first kits were delivered on Jun 29th and I believe they were available for pre-order at the WWDC just a week prior on Jun 22nd, the day they were announced. The exchange rate was 0.89 vs. 0.83 or about a $30 difference. Plus, Apple products generally cost more in Europe, just like the previous poster said. What I don't know is the exact price but I doubt it was exactly $500 converted into Euros.

    Also, if your "read the article" you'll see the estimated difference was around 100 Euros, with no mention of how they came to that number, as I mentioned before. So I'm guessing the calculation is the exchange rate PLUS purchase price.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 21

    fred1 said:
     From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    That’s what a lot of people think, but it’s actually due to sales tax not being included in the US price when it is in the European price. I’m planning on buying the iPhone 12 Mini 128 GB and I can get it for €140 less here in Europe than in the US. 
    Taxes in Europe are higher so that automatically makes it more expensive.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    darkvader said:
    Makes me wonder if the first new iMac is coming in March. I mean, rumors seem to point to later in 2021 for M2, but that’s a very long wait for this rumored iMac redesign. So maybe we’ll see a 24” M1 iMac with at least 32 GB memory sooner rather than later?

    Surely there are developers who would prefer to put their $500 toward an iMac, instead of having to use it on a laptop or a mini?

    Huh?  They'd certainly be better off getting an iMac now, while they're still worth having.

    Of course, they'd probably be even better off just reporting the dev kit "stolen" and sell it on ebay to some crazy collector.  Might even be able to buy a decent Intel Mac Pro that way.
    That would be theft. Apple never signed over ownership of the DTKs to developers. The $500 price was to join the Universal Quick Start program which included a limited time use of a DTK owned by Apple. The contract I signed was pretty clear.
    fastasleepwatto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 21
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member

    fred1 said:
     From personal experience, Apple products also cost more in Europe.
    That’s what a lot of people think, but it’s actually due to sales tax not being included in the US price when it is in the European price. I’m planning on buying the iPhone 12 Mini 128 GB and I can get it for €140 less here in Europe than in the US. 
    Taxes in Europe are higher so that automatically makes it more expensive.
    Not if you can declare the purchase as a business expense and not pay the VAT. 
  • Reply 20 of 21
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    I guess I'm not sure what the all the commotion is about here over 100€. Any one who travels or does international business knows exchange rates vary, sometimes significantly. With a retail product, companies generally set a price that approximates the exchange rate and ensures they maintain their profit margin, but with a smaller program like the developer kit, they simply kept the price constant. Regardless, 100€ for several months use does not seem to be an unreasonable cost. If the exchange rate had gone down so they made money would people be complaining? 

    I wouldn't want to pay an extra 100€ either but I don't think it's worth getting that worked up about.
    fred1
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