iPod Price Drop in Australia - what does it mean?

false prophetfalse prophet
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Out of the blue, and with absolutely no fanfare, I noticed a price drop on iPods in the Australian apple.com store over the weekend. This didn't seem to happen with last week's update, but afterwards.



30GB fell from AUD$380 to $350, 80GB from $500 to $480. They're still comparatively expensive, as against the U.S. (USD$250 is only about AUD$300, plus our value-added tax AKA the GST adds 10% for a total of $330).



I just can't explain where it came from. It doesn't seem to have happened in the States, nor is there an "iPod - now 5% cheaper" thing going on. The chain stores seem to have followed suit today, though I was in a specialist Apple store on Saturday and they didn't know a thing about it.



I'm pretty sure there isn't a new model on the way, as there is a solid trend of releasing pre-Christmas. At best there will be a memory bump, and maybe better battery life. But even so, if they're selling them out, why just here, not in the U.S. or elsewhere?



Just what does it all mean...?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    jasondotcomjasondotcom Posts: 36member
    It could just be an adjustment to take into account the surging Aussie dollar, which seems to be settling into it's new home above 80 US cents. A lot of the financial "analysis" at the moment is talking about growing import sales off the back of the rising value of the AUD...ie. the local cost of those imports is coming down. So the price of Apple gear is probably just following every other USD based imported consumable. Nice to be on the right side of the foreign exchange thingie for a change.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by False Prophet View Post


    Out of the blue, and with absolutely no fanfare, I noticed a price drop on iPods in the Australian apple.com store over the weekend. This didn't seem to happen with last week's update, but afterwards.



    30GB fell from AUD$380 to $350, 80GB from $500 to $480. They're still comparatively expensive, as against the U.S. (USD$250 is only about AUD$300, plus our value-added tax AKA the GST adds 10% for a total of $330).



    I just can't explain where it came from. It doesn't seem to have happened in the States, nor is there an "iPod - now 5% cheaper" thing going on. The chain stores seem to have followed suit today, though I was in a specialist Apple store on Saturday and they didn't know a thing about it.



    I'm pretty sure there isn't a new model on the way, as there is a solid trend of releasing pre-Christmas. At best there will be a memory bump, and maybe better battery life. But even so, if they're selling them out, why just here, not in the U.S. or elsewhere?



    Just what does it all mean...?



  • Reply 2 of 3
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    "iPod Price Drop in Australia - what does it mean?"

    It means if I flew to Australia I could have a nice holiday and a cheaper iPod.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    false prophetfalse prophet Posts: 22member
    Hi Jason,



    That's one element I definitely thought about, though surely it would lead to cuts across the board. That said, the new MacBooks are at a lower price point I think; the same may happen with MBPs when they're refreshed. It may actually be Apple's intention not to draw too much attention, as "price cuts across the board" would undermine their status as a premium product, whatever the reason.



    Cheers,



    Eden
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