Apple Vision Pro finally on sale outside the US

AppleInsider

Customers in Japan and mainland China can now buy the Apple Vision Pro, and Apple will open up pre-orders in five more countries on Friday.

Apple's head of retail Deirdre O'Brien is in China for the Apple Vision Pro rollout

As announced

during the WWDC 2024 video, the Apple Vision Pro has begun rolling out to more territories across the world. The international rollout comes almost five months since the Apple Vision Pro was launched in the US.

Due to that protracted delay, some international users travelled to the US to buy a headset, even as some of them then found the headset being confiscated by Customs in their countries. At least some got through, though, as social media postings show that the very first Apple Vision Pro buyer in Japan was filmed by an existing user.

Funny scene: the first person to purchase Vision Pro in Japan is being watched by another Vision Pro purchaser at Apple Store in Tokyo https://t.co/GOobQds3LA

-- Jumpei ARAI (@araijumpei)

June 28, 2024

The Apple Vision Pro is now available to buy in stores in these countries:

• United States


• China mainland


• Hong Kong


• Japan


• Singapore

Vision Pro First debut in China.
At Apple Store Wangfujing pic.twitter.com/wDib6s5eXu

-- safari (@safaricheung)

June 28, 2024

Also on June 28, 2024, preorders start in these five countries:

• Canada


• France


• Germany


• Australia


• United Kingdom

The local online Apple Stores are now down in each of these territories. "Back in a blink," says the message on the store. "We're getting the Apple Store ready for Apple Vision Pro."

In each of those countries, pre-orders will begin arriving in customers' hands starting on July 12, 2024. On that same date, the headset will be available in Apple Stores.



Read on AppleInsider

ravnorodom

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke 😲

miiwtwo

now Apple Vision Pro vs Play For Dream MR, we need more people 

robin huber

It’s time. Demo table at my local Apple Store has crickets playing. 

grandact73

This will be good for the 25 additional people that will buy the Vision Pro.

chasm

ravnorodom said:

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke 😲

Does it, or are you just referring to currency conversion? The story didn’t mention it, so I just wondered where you got that.

chasm

grandact73 said:

This will be good for the 25 additional people that will buy the Vision Pro.

There are more of the idle rich around than perhaps you realize. I mean, two of those 25 you refer to are standing looking at each in that picture in that one store!  

funwithstuff

ravnorodom said:

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke 😲

Overseas currency conversions include a small % amount to hedge against exchange rate changes, but most of the difference is because GST/VAT/sales tax is built in to most advertised prices, while it's not in the US.

For example, using Spotlight exchange rates, US$3500 = AU$5248, but we have 10% GST here, so ~$5773, and it's rounded up to $6000. Yes, it's slightly more expensive, but not US$500, and we do have better consumer rights too (i.e. longer warranty terms based on how long a product "should" last).

dewme

Localization of products, especially software, is still a nontrivial challenge. There are all the regulations and locale specific hardware and environmental standards that must be tested and certified. I think Apple does a pretty good job going in by properly internationalizing their products to prepare them for localization in the initial designs and implementations. Apple has traversed this path many many times and knows what they are doing. One thing they aren't doing is dragging their feet. They absolutely want the revenue that comes along with increased sales in more markets.

Localization is probably one area where AI may help accelerate the time-to-market for getting non-English (for US based products) localized versions ready for release. It's not simply a matter of word and units translations, there's a lot of context specificity in different regions not to mention many different variations of the same base language, like English. Things have improved drastically over the past couple of decades but it still involves real work done by real people and that takes time. In my experience we always did English first, followed by PFIGS, and then (simplified) Chinese. I'm sure Apple sets their priority based on sales patterns/weighting. It's never arbitrary.

williamlondon

grandact73 said:

This will be good for the 25 additional people that will buy the Vision Pro.

When the sales numbers come in the deal is you leave this forum and go troll elsewhere.

ravnorodom

chasm said:

ravnorodom said:

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke ߘ⦬t;/div>

Does it, or are you just referring to currency conversion? The story didn’t mention it, so I just wondered where you got that.

"The device starts at 29,999 yuan, or $4,128, in China, compared to a $3,500 retail price in the U.S.".... so it's actually $600 more. 😲
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/28/apples-vision-pro-starts-deliveries-at-a-higher-price-in-china-than-in-the-us.html#:~:text=HANGZHOU%2C%20China%20%E2%80%94%20Apple%20's,retail%20price%20in%20the%20U.S.

9secondkox2

What?!? It didn’t launch in the EU first?

*20 billion USD fine*

StrangeDays

chasm said:

grandact73 said:

This will be good for the 25 additional people that will buy the Vision Pro.

There are more of the idle rich around than perhaps you realize. I mean, two of those 25 you refer to are standing looking at each in that picture in that one store!  

idle rich? You do realize AVP is half the price of the original Macintosh when corrected for inflation. Were Macintosh users also the idle rich? 

chasm

StrangeDays said:

chasm said:

There are more of the idle rich around than perhaps you realize. I mean, two of those 25 you refer to are standing looking at each in that picture in that one store!  

idle rich? You do realize AVP is half the price of the original Macintosh when corrected for inflation. Were Macintosh users also the idle rich? 

I'm aware, but wages for most working people have been stagnant for a decade or more, while inflation and general cost of living has risen, meaning that folks we might have once called "middle class" or "upwardly mobile" are now "the working poor."

An AVP is a luxury item for most working people these days. I personally don't consider it a "toy," but it's not an accident that it has that sort of reputation among those whose income is solely derived from their labours.

greginprague

ravnorodom said:

chasm said:

ravnorodom said:

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke ߘ⦬t;/div>

Does it, or are you just referring to currency conversion? The story didn’t mention it, so I just wondered where you got that.

"The device starts at 29,999 yuan, or $4,128, in China, compared to a $3,500 retail price in the U.S.".... so it's actually $600 more. 😲
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/28/apples-vision-pro-starts-deliveries-at-a-higher-price-in-china-than-in-the-us.html#:~:text=HANGZHOU%2C%20China%20%E2%80%94%20Apple%20's,retail%20price%20in%20the%20U.S.

China’s VAT is 13% and is baked into that $4,128 price.  If you do the easy math you can see the pre-tax price is $3,591.  A $91 (2.6% above US price) difference is easily attributable to currency fluctuation hedging.

kolvas

ravnorodom said:

It baffles me that customers outside U.S. went for it despite it costing $500 more than the States. Apple product hype is no joke 😲

One of the reasons for the (much) higher cost in Europe (aside from the exchange rate) is that the price includes sales tax or VAT which is on average 20%. The base price of $3499 does not include sales tax which on average is much less in the states than most places worldwide. Hong Kong, however, which has no sales tax sells it for a cheaper price than for example NY which has almost 9% sales tax. So while technically the US is the cheapest, one can find it cheaper than most places in the US, elsewhere.