Apple probed for 'ripping off' customers
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Will_Richo
Green & Growing
AS ALWAYS the good old UK public are charged more than the EU.
Typical ::ha::
Typical ::ha::
diablojota
Doctoral Student
There is typically a reason for this. In Germany, iPod's are more expensive, but this is because they have to include a 2 year warranty on the items, so Apple just adds the costs of their service into the price to compensate.
I do not know if this is the same in UK, but I do know this is fairly typical in EU countries.
EDIT: I should read more carefully
Apple is not the only one doing this. Look at a Porsche Boxter. It costs 42k GBP (in UK) and 42k USD (in US). That's a fairly heft difference...
I do not know if this is the same in UK, but I do know this is fairly typical in EU countries.
EDIT: I should read more carefully
Apple is not the only one doing this. Look at a Porsche Boxter. It costs 42k GBP (in UK) and 42k USD (in US). That's a fairly heft difference...
texanpenguin
Registered Penguin
Yeah, but that would include the conversion from left to right-hand drive.
CreativeEye
Registered
wasnt there supposed to be some investigation a few years ago regarding cd pricing too - here in the uk we were paying anything upwards of £16 for a new release!
we've always been ripped off on prices for everything! strange to think the biggest selling point of car dealerships in the uk is 'european prices'!! - madness!
and what about clothes prices! - madness!
what about property prices! - in the last few years they've gone up massively and yet wages and incomes have stayed well and truly put! - madness!
a few months back the pound was quite strong against the dollar - i had friends who flew out to new york for weekends just to buy stuff cheap! - the offset of the flights etc still made it cheaper! - forget out of town shopping centres like bluewater - the next saturday afternoon shopping trip you make might just be international!
-- rant over --
i'm off to buy a sandwich a coffee and a muffin - £7-9 well spent!
we've always been ripped off on prices for everything! strange to think the biggest selling point of car dealerships in the uk is 'european prices'!! - madness!
and what about clothes prices! - madness!
what about property prices! - in the last few years they've gone up massively and yet wages and incomes have stayed well and truly put! - madness!
a few months back the pound was quite strong against the dollar - i had friends who flew out to new york for weekends just to buy stuff cheap! - the offset of the flights etc still made it cheaper! - forget out of town shopping centres like bluewater - the next saturday afternoon shopping trip you make might just be international!
-- rant over --
i'm off to buy a sandwich a coffee and a muffin - £7-9 well spent!
diablojota
Doctoral Student
texanpenguin said:
Ah yes, but the conversion doesn't cost 33,000 USD to do... That is just plain ridiculous.
soulseek
It's set to groove
this is nonsense.
they are claiming that they are victims of iTunes UK...
why would apple do such a thing ? why would it take advantage of UK customers ? do they have anything against them ?
NO... its just that english ppl are what we call 'CHEAPOS' . they dont like spending money
im sure theres some reason the songs are more expensive in the UK...
ahh anyways. i dont care, i just want it here , in Sweden
they are claiming that they are victims of iTunes UK...
why would apple do such a thing ? why would it take advantage of UK customers ? do they have anything against them ?
NO... its just that english ppl are what we call 'CHEAPOS' . they dont like spending money
im sure theres some reason the songs are more expensive in the UK...
ahh anyways. i dont care, i just want it here , in Sweden
jobsen_ski
Daily Player
Well thats a very personal statement to make and if it weren't that i am scottish (and by the way the UK has Scotland N. Ireland and Wales in it as well as England) then I would take offence...
Don't get me wrong im pro apple but I do feel that apple has just joined in the rip-off britain crowd after all if you could sell tracks at 79p and make lets say 29p profit why would you want to charge 65p (just numbers pluked out of mid air here) and make 15p profit? If you can get away with it why not.. and I think that that is what apple is doing! I know that the £ is strong against the $ right now but if we take an exchange rate of £1 = $1.5 (right now its like £1 = $1.76 or smoehting) you still get a price of 66p! so its not only compared with the EU that apple is overcharging us (brits) its compared with the US as well.
Now just a wee idea... suposing apple can lower the price of the songs to 65p then I think it should do so... a surprise anouncement.. to show napster and mycokemusic and all the rest also it could be coupled with a *big* advertisement of the itunes juke box/ music store which has seen little / no advertisement here!
So come on apple give us a fair deal!
Don't get me wrong im pro apple but I do feel that apple has just joined in the rip-off britain crowd after all if you could sell tracks at 79p and make lets say 29p profit why would you want to charge 65p (just numbers pluked out of mid air here) and make 15p profit? If you can get away with it why not.. and I think that that is what apple is doing! I know that the £ is strong against the $ right now but if we take an exchange rate of £1 = $1.5 (right now its like £1 = $1.76 or smoehting) you still get a price of 66p! so its not only compared with the EU that apple is overcharging us (brits) its compared with the US as well.
Now just a wee idea... suposing apple can lower the price of the songs to 65p then I think it should do so... a surprise anouncement.. to show napster and mycokemusic and all the rest also it could be coupled with a *big* advertisement of the itunes juke box/ music store which has seen little / no advertisement here!
So come on apple give us a fair deal!
soulseek
It's set to groove
jobsen it wasnt supposed to be personal...
the fact is that 99euros that the french or german pay is also 25% more expensive than what US citizens pay. maybe the french should start complaining... !!!
i just dont get it why the english consider that theres a rip-off crowd that's taking advantage of them ... do they feel they're special than the rest of the world ??? Should i feel ripped because i pay 3000euros for a powermac that costs 3000(or less)US dollars ??? because if u make the conversion then thats less than 2500Euros......
stop whining...
the fact is that 99euros that the french or german pay is also 25% more expensive than what US citizens pay. maybe the french should start complaining... !!!
i just dont get it why the english consider that theres a rip-off crowd that's taking advantage of them ... do they feel they're special than the rest of the world ??? Should i feel ripped because i pay 3000euros for a powermac that costs 3000(or less)US dollars ??? because if u make the conversion then thats less than 2500Euros......
stop whining...
jobsen_ski
Daily Player
Tax = 17.5% this is 20% and do u realisticaly think that the Consumers Association (who deal with this kind of thing every day) are going to complaine about this if it were down to taxes! don't think so! anyway if it was down to TAXES don't you think that apple would have said somehting about it in its reply! instead they said
The underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our track downloads.
Thats not unusual. Look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK.
We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the UK.
And on my working Europe doesnt even pay 10% more using currency concertors - 0.99 = $1.2 and £0.79 = 1.4 so were being conned more than u!
AND BTW ur still not getting the point its not ENGLAND its the UK or Great Britain which also includes SCOTALND N. IRELAND AND WALES!
The underlying economic model in each country has an impact on how we price our track downloads.
Thats not unusual. Look at the price of CDs in the US versus the UK.
We believe the real comparison to be made is with the price of other track downloads in the UK.
And on my working Europe doesnt even pay 10% more using currency concertors - 0.99 = $1.2 and £0.79 = 1.4 so were being conned more than u!
AND BTW ur still not getting the point its not ENGLAND its the UK or Great Britain which also includes SCOTALND N. IRELAND AND WALES!
Will_Richo
Green & Growing
texanpenguin said:
LMAO. No we are just suckers and continue to out up with higher prices, so over the years thay have filled there boots. Especialy car manufacturers, nothing to do with coversions>? They are made that way from the start.
BooHoo, are we off thread?
Will_Richo
Green & Growing
parb.johal@ante said:
Rotflmao......Spot on !
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
If we compare the 99 Euro price to the American price, then we must do so on a state-by-state basis, since each state sets their own sales tax -- and some have none at all. Here in Texas, it currently sits at 8.25%. So when I purchase a $0.99 song from Apple, I actually pay $1.07. Still cheaper than the UK, but the difference doesn't seem that bad now, does it?
And I completely understand about the Porsches and price differences... it must take a lot of time, effort and money to patch the hole up in the left side from the steering column when they move it over!
And I completely understand about the Porsches and price differences... it must take a lot of time, effort and money to patch the hole up in the left side from the steering column when they move it over!
$1.05 for me (Kentucy is 6%).
According to the iTunes UK site, each song in 79 pence, or 0.79 GBP. 1 GBP is approximately 1.78 USD. So 0.99 USD is .56 GBP or 56 pence. 79 pence would be 1.40 USD.
So if VAT is 17.5%, then the total should be (56p + 10p) 66 pence. The remaining 13 pence difference is a mystery, but there's two possible reasons for it that I can see.
1.) There's some kind of 'anti-copyright' tax being levied on the songs. A few countries do this on different types of media and equipment (CDs, iPods, digital cameras, etc.), though I've seen a few reports saying the UK isn't one of those countries. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1120199.stm]
2.) State of California sales tax is currently 7.25% + local jurisdiction. Since Apple is located in Cupertino, the tax is 8.25%, and this might be getting placed on the purchases. It would probably happen like this: 56p + CA tax (5p) = 61p + VAT (11p) = 72p. Still trying to figure out where the remaining 7p went...possibly Uncle Sam (US GOV) taking a cut too? Or maybe it's just in there to recoup costs...who knows.
Which brings us to the cost of living difference between countries. On average, it seems like everything in the UK is 1.2 to 1.7 times more expensive than in the US. The statement about the price of the Porsche tends to agree with this. So chances are they're selling a product at a fair price concurrent with the market in that area.
If you go by #2 above, the 7p difference is a mere 0.12 USD more than we pay for a song right now; or 1.12 times as much. If you go with just having the VAT leveled on it (13p difference), then it's a 0.23 USD difference; or 1.23 times as much. Last I checked 1.12 and 1.23 times as much is a better thing than 1.2 to 1.7 times as much.
What are the prices per song for the other online music sellers in the UK? From what I've heard, it's less than the iTMS prices. If that's so, what exactly is the problem here? It's already been established that living in the UK costs more than some of the other places in the world (US included), so you can't logically expect to pay the same price for something a person in the US might.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...40915/wr_nm/media_music_apple_dc&sid=95573661
Targeting iTunes is an odd choice. In Britain, Apple's music service is cheaper -- in some cases more than 20 percent cheaper -- than rivals Napster (news - web sites) and most of the online retailers that resell the catalog of music download firm OD2.
According to the iTunes UK site, each song in 79 pence, or 0.79 GBP. 1 GBP is approximately 1.78 USD. So 0.99 USD is .56 GBP or 56 pence. 79 pence would be 1.40 USD.
So if VAT is 17.5%, then the total should be (56p + 10p) 66 pence. The remaining 13 pence difference is a mystery, but there's two possible reasons for it that I can see.
1.) There's some kind of 'anti-copyright' tax being levied on the songs. A few countries do this on different types of media and equipment (CDs, iPods, digital cameras, etc.), though I've seen a few reports saying the UK isn't one of those countries. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1120199.stm]
2.) State of California sales tax is currently 7.25% + local jurisdiction. Since Apple is located in Cupertino, the tax is 8.25%, and this might be getting placed on the purchases. It would probably happen like this: 56p + CA tax (5p) = 61p + VAT (11p) = 72p. Still trying to figure out where the remaining 7p went...possibly Uncle Sam (US GOV) taking a cut too? Or maybe it's just in there to recoup costs...who knows.
Which brings us to the cost of living difference between countries. On average, it seems like everything in the UK is 1.2 to 1.7 times more expensive than in the US. The statement about the price of the Porsche tends to agree with this. So chances are they're selling a product at a fair price concurrent with the market in that area.
If you go by #2 above, the 7p difference is a mere 0.12 USD more than we pay for a song right now; or 1.12 times as much. If you go with just having the VAT leveled on it (13p difference), then it's a 0.23 USD difference; or 1.23 times as much. Last I checked 1.12 and 1.23 times as much is a better thing than 1.2 to 1.7 times as much.
What are the prices per song for the other online music sellers in the UK? From what I've heard, it's less than the iTMS prices. If that's so, what exactly is the problem here? It's already been established that living in the UK costs more than some of the other places in the world (US included), so you can't logically expect to pay the same price for something a person in the US might.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...40915/wr_nm/media_music_apple_dc&sid=95573661
Targeting iTunes is an odd choice. In Britain, Apple's music service is cheaper -- in some cases more than 20 percent cheaper -- than rivals Napster (news - web sites) and most of the online retailers that resell the catalog of music download firm OD2.
And then there's an altogether different approach. I still don't get why people feel 'ripped off': They don't _have_ to buy at iTMS. It's not like iTMS had a hold on them and they had to buy, say, a hundred songs. They can buy their songs in the form of a CD (even from other countries afaik) or from other online music stores... If Apple charges too much, it's Apple's fault eventually, because it drives people to the competition.
However: Let's just for the moment assume that it's not the overall pricing structure of the UK at fault here (because then this would end as: everything's okay) and it'd be Apple's fault. That'd mean Apple, in the UK, makes more money off iTMS tracks. That could be a business decision, i.e. they still expect enough people to stick with iTMS and thus to make more profit. That a bad thing per se?
I really don't see the problem. It would _only_ be a problem if it were a monopoly, but Apple's not _that_ all-powerful just yet. ;-)
However: Let's just for the moment assume that it's not the overall pricing structure of the UK at fault here (because then this would end as: everything's okay) and it'd be Apple's fault. That'd mean Apple, in the UK, makes more money off iTMS tracks. That could be a business decision, i.e. they still expect enough people to stick with iTMS and thus to make more profit. That a bad thing per se?
I really don't see the problem. It would _only_ be a problem if it were a monopoly, but Apple's not _that_ all-powerful just yet. ;-)
Don't have to run, although it _is_ a conspiracy theory, of course... I guess if Microsoft comes online in the UK with a similar price structure, that kinda wouldn't work. And if they're cheaper, it wouldn't be necessary to badmouth Apple.I just hope the music industry will _get_ the idea finally and enable Apple, Microsoft and others to sell online music cheaper, be it in the US, the UK, Europe, wherever... Because they _could_ make more money that way, I'm pretty sure...