Improving Apple US/Canada Exchange Rates
As some of you may know, the Canadian dollar is rising at a frenetic pace against the US dollar. Being a Canadian, this is generally a good thing, except that this exchange rate hasn't been reflected in the prices of many goods, including Apple products.
However, it looks as though Apple is in fact passing on the benefits of improving exchange rates to Canadians.
I compared the prices for the Canadian and US Apple Stores online for iMacs, the latest version of which were launched in September, and iBooks, the latest version of which were launched within the last month, if memory serves. I put a quick spreadsheet (OpenOffice) together of the Canadian and US prices for both products, with some interesting results:
iMac (September release)\t\t
\t 17 inch low\t17 inch high\t20 inch
US\t 1,299\t 1,499\t 1,899
Canada\t 1,749\t 1,999\t 2,499
Exchange 0.74\t 0.75\t 0.76
\t\t\t
iBook (October? November?)\t\t
\t 12 inch 14 inch low\t 14 inch high
US\t 999\t 1,299\t 1,499
Canada\t 1,299\t 1,649\t 1,899
Exchange 0.77\t 0.79\t 0.79
It looks like Apple's improving its exchange rates with time, despite freezing them for a given version of a product category. 0.75 US/Canada is a huge ripoff given the 0.84 current exchange rate, but 0.79 really isn't that bad.
If the rumours of an iMac hardware revision after Christmas are true, then this should come with an even better exchange rate than 0.79, meaning that I'll suddenly be able to afford an iMac.
I'm not as annoyed at Apple anymore. If I end up paying significantly less for an iMac at the beginning of 2005, that justify delaying my purchase.
However, it looks as though Apple is in fact passing on the benefits of improving exchange rates to Canadians.
I compared the prices for the Canadian and US Apple Stores online for iMacs, the latest version of which were launched in September, and iBooks, the latest version of which were launched within the last month, if memory serves. I put a quick spreadsheet (OpenOffice) together of the Canadian and US prices for both products, with some interesting results:
iMac (September release)\t\t
\t 17 inch low\t17 inch high\t20 inch
US\t 1,299\t 1,499\t 1,899
Canada\t 1,749\t 1,999\t 2,499
Exchange 0.74\t 0.75\t 0.76
\t\t\t
iBook (October? November?)\t\t
\t 12 inch 14 inch low\t 14 inch high
US\t 999\t 1,299\t 1,499
Canada\t 1,299\t 1,649\t 1,899
Exchange 0.77\t 0.79\t 0.79
It looks like Apple's improving its exchange rates with time, despite freezing them for a given version of a product category. 0.75 US/Canada is a huge ripoff given the 0.84 current exchange rate, but 0.79 really isn't that bad.
If the rumours of an iMac hardware revision after Christmas are true, then this should come with an even better exchange rate than 0.79, meaning that I'll suddenly be able to afford an iMac.
I'm not as annoyed at Apple anymore. If I end up paying significantly less for an iMac at the beginning of 2005, that justify delaying my purchase.