2.times { think_before :posting }
Apple
More Apple Store prices compared
9 set
I recently posted about a price comparison between European Apple Stores, and showing – or at least trying to show – how much Apple is gaining by selling overseas.
I will make use of the same tax rate estimated as computed in that article. Based on this assumption, I tried to discover how much is the gain for three Apple main products: the new Apple TV, the new Mac Mini and the MacBook.
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If you want to thank me for this post, feel free to pay me a coffee! :)
European Apple Store prices compared
5 set
Last Wednesdsay, we all know, Steve Jobs has made his last appearance “on stage” to present the biggest evolution ever in the iPods lineup. He also presented the latest evolution of the Apple TV, the new iOS 4.1 and the forthcoming iOS 4.2 for iPads.
But, the online Apple Store showed some little changes too. For the new iPods, on the European Apple sites you can read the actual product price, and also the taxes amount paid for that product. As an example, if you go to the spanish Apple Store and look for an iPod shuffle, you will see that its price is € 49, which includes € 11 for “VAT, duty and levies”. Same story for the italian store, the french one, the english one, etc.
Some bloggers around the world, here and there, started comparing prices between the european stores and the american one, using the prices that Jobs kindly exposed to us. I too tried to make the same. Here is how, and later come the results.
Mean fee % estimation
I compared the prices of all the products, starting from the new prices of the iPod family. These products are the only ones for which we have the real price and the “real” fees. Starting from these ones I tried to calculate a mean fee percentage, which I will use in later comparisons. All the prices have been normalized, using the current EUR/USD, GBP/USD and CHF/USD changes, as shown on Google. I chose to compare prices from: Italy, France, Germany, UK, Spain and Switzerland. This is the result:
Estimated mean fees %
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If you want to thank me for this post, feel free to pay me a coffee! :)
Unlocked iPhone 4 international pricing show off. Cry Italy!
4 ago
Filip Chudzinski has created a very clean and helpful document, in which all the international prices for an unlocked iPhone 4 are gathered.
Costs vary a lot. In the document, we can see that the iPhone 4 16GB has a minimum price of 496 € (from Hong Kong) and a maximum price of 659 € (from Italy). Prices for the 32 GB model range from 585 € (always in Hong Kong) to 779 € (always in Italy). The average prices are: 594,21 € for the 16 GB model and 699,29 € for the 32 GB model.
Unlocked iPhone 4 international pricing
In this document you can look at all the international prices (till now) for an unlocked (not branded) iPhone 4. Those countries above which you see a lock are the ones where you can only buy a branded iPhone (so, no “native” unlocked iPhone 4 is available).
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If you want to thank me for this post, feel free to pay me a coffee! :)
Apple updates the (Mobile) Apple Store
27 lug
It seems almost clear to me that Apple is betting on iOS and it future. Almost exclusively on iOS, I would say. And at the same time the old Apple “core business” is being left behind. Slowly.
Just look at the recent updates. iPhone OS 3.1.3 for iPhones and iPos Touch’s. Then iPad and the consequent iPhone OS 3.2. Then the new iPhone 4 and the developers’ beta preview of the new iOS 4. Then again a recent fix with iOS 4.0.1 and a preview of the next iOS 4.1. The mobile market seems to be a very profitable one. To the extent that Apple is betting everything on iOS and very little on Mac OS & Co. Let’s see why.
We can recognise this to be true if we carefully look at the Apple Store. All the recent updates are about:
- MacBook Pro
- Mac Mini
- iMac
- Mac Pro
- Apple Cinema Display
All the updates mainly interested internal hardware upgrade, with no significant updates to the product as a whole. Apple has always been late, speaking about the internal hardware of their products. Just think about Sony. They sell VAIO’s (I once owned one, will never go back to it) which cost almost half the cost of a MacBook and have almost twice-powerful hardware (speaking about internal CPU, GPU, RAM memory and HD bundles).
They are trying to get back on track. But even with the latest updates, Apple has just put a little redesign to the internal hardware configuration. Some new Core i3, i5 and i7 processors appear (about 8 months later than the competitors). Some new nVidia graphics card are replacing the older ones, but these models too are already old. A discrete nVidia 330M for a top line product as the MacBook Pro seems ridiculous to me. Yes, they made really big improvements to the MBP screen, introducing a new Hi-Res display for the 15″ model. A great move, I admit.
But the “packaging” is always the same, and the price has unexpectedly risen. Only the Mac Mini has gone through a complete redesign, to couple its design to that of the Apple TV. I prefer not to talk about it, since it is one of my greatest dreams, but since I’m in Italy I would pay 799 EUR for it (~ 1.049 USD) instead of 699 USD. Unbelievable.
The packaging is always the same, I just said. The MacBook Pro’s have not changed since the last year. The iMac has not changed since the last two years. Even the Mac Pro will not change. These products’ design could surely be improved, but Mother Apple is focusing on something completely different.
In this new touch-based world, they release the new Magic Trackpad. It’s cool. But useless, in my opinion: why would I use a trackpad when I’m using an iMac? That said, it surely will sell a lot.
And in this Apple-centric market, they release the new Battery Charger. Apple can sell you everything you need to play internet, music, videos and games. Everything.
They’re pushing through these new routes. They’re pushing through frequent iOS updates. Frequent mobile devices updates. Frequent complementary mobile devices introductions. But they are loosing grip on the whole Mac OS world.
I hope they do not abandon Mac OS in the middle of a road.
I still hope to withstand the miracle of a Mac OS XI.
I hope they will not convince me to do everything I am used to through an iPad.
At least, as long as they do not give me one for free.
If you want to thank me for this post, feel free to pay me a coffee! :)
Follow the White *Rabbit* iPhone 4
23 lug
Apple has recently stated that they are experiencing difficulties in building and delivering the white iPhone 4 model, due to a problem (probably) related to the new front Gorilla Glass painting procedure.
The late-to-come white model is going to destroy people’s expectations, especially of those one who have waited till now just to buy this glamour model. We still do not know when will we be able to grab the white one, and probably we will not for a long time.
Once again, we have to wait for Apple to reveal when this delay will come to an end.
If you want to thank me for this post, feel free to pay me a coffee! :)