Petition for better European Prices in here...

hulkaros

The Incredible...
Here it is:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/EUprices/petition-sign.html?

While for the past few weeks the US $ and EU € are mostly $1 = €1 the prices at Europe are unreasonable expensive. An example is Jaguar: In USA worths $129 while in Europe goes for $155-$160!!! And this gets worse when you compare more expensive Apple products... In Greece or maybe in other countries too, the things get worse because the local company (Rainbow Computers and not Apple Greece --Rainbow is the closest thing to Apple in Greece) charges an additional 10%-20% to European prices!!! :eek:

If this is not a serious reason for people NOT to buy Apple products then what is? Come on Apple make things equal or VERY soon you will see your European market shrink even more :eek:
 
The main problem with European prices is that Apple is a U.S. company and bases their prices on U.S. dollars.

So probably a few months ago, the dollar was equal to about 1.2 euros, so the price would be about right. Now since the dollar is less than a euro, the european prices seem outrageously expensive.

While this still doesn't account for some of the ridiculously expensive prices they place on their hardware in Europe, it does explain why the software seems to be a bit expensive.

And the dollar will remain volatile. Just yesterday, the Dow shot up almost 500 points, and (while I really doubt it), this could be the start of another rally of major increases in the dow, bringing the dollar back up to its peak value. If that happens and Apple decreased its prices, then the European software would be less expensive and would hurt Apple a lot.

So Apple has to take these preventive measures. It's unfortunate, but it's good business practice.
 
I forgot to mention that this was always the case and not just in the past few weeks... What I wanted to say is that even after this huge drop of US$ STILL Apple's products are WAY too expensive in Europe compared to other US companies products out there (yes, including Wintel companies like DuLL, etc) :mad:
 
I've signed. Look at the price differens between USA and Italy. I know that there's import tax and stuff added on but come on, it can't be that much. If apple want to get a bigger share of the european market they have to lower thier prices.


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almost 600 euro/dollar differens, that can't be explained with the taxes. Even when the euro was about 0.88 dollar cents
 
I had the idea of starting this kind of thread, but never found the time. The sad thing is that Apple marketshare in the UE is so low that the petition will stop at 1000 signatures (best guess). Apple will think that the problem is not so great. Apple will keep its current pricing policy. End of the story.

...and I remember when Apple had 26% of the Italian market...
 
Originally posted by simX
Now since the dollar is less than a euro, the european prices seem outrageously expensive.

If that's so, then the prices should be going down.

Some of it has to do with shipping costs as well though.
 
Originally posted by dracolich

...and I remember when Apple had 26% of the Italian market...

And Italy is still one of the very few (only?) European country where you actually see an Apple in a CompUSA equivalent (ELDO, MediaWorld, etc)

Pretty much anywhere else, you have to go to specialized Apple retailer (and get better than Apple on-line store prices, but that is another detail :)
 
Shipping cost?

Some of it has to do with shipping costs as well though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't most macs made in Ireland and asia or something? why should it cost more to send a mac from say ireland to the rest of the EU then to USA??? or from asia?? That doesn't make sense. the macs made in Ireland would be cheaper here if that was the case.
 
Reminds me of the time when people re-imported Swatch watches from Italy to Switzerland, because the price per piece would still be lower than buying in the home country - even with transport and all. Maybe I should ask someone in the US to buy me Jaguar and send it to me. What would the shipping be like? 129$ in the US, 249 CHF in Switzerland (that's more than 160$!). Maybe we should just buy two copies of Jaguar for three computers or something like that - and then send the calculations to Apple and request a third box for half the price...

Swiss prices tend to be better than in the EU, but still - too high compared to the US.

My question would be: Why can Compaq, why can Dell have more competitive prices in Europe?
 
True...they are either made or assembled in Ireland.

I talked about this a while back where I compared the european prices with the US prices. I know that on the Danish mac.com the price incl. VAT but there is still way too much of a difference between the price.

This is kind of funny because the european sales amount to 46% of Apples computer sales.
 
At the risk of sounding like a smug american punk, I'm going to bring a point up for consideration: Apple isn't ripping you off. Everything is more expensive in Europe.

The problem is a free market. Or rather, 2 free markets, one here in the US, and one where you guys are in Europe. Just because the internet makes it seem like they're linked, they're not. At least, not at the consumer level. It's market forces that are determining the price you pay. Every company, not just Apple, charges as much as the market will bear. Obviously, enough people are paying what they ask, so they don't need to cut prices.

Everything is cheaper in the US.

When I was in school, my family was part of an exchange program with Belgian students. We hosted one, and there were about 30 of them total who came to my brother's school. What did the Belgian kids do in the US? They wen't shopping. For everything. Music, shoes, clothes. Any and every consumer product.

Everything is cheaper in the US. I'm not trying to brag. We pay a price for it. Strip malls, shopping malls, Wal-mart. I hate it all. If I could move to a place that lacked these things I would, even if everything cost me more. But the fact of the matter is that the US invented consumerism. We're really good at it. That's why stuff is cheaper here.

Now, I don't have any real evidence to back any of this up. Just anectdotal evidence. If anyone has any hard numbers to hit me with, I'm all ears (eyes).
 
Originally posted by ladavacm


And Italy is still one of the very few (only?) European country where you actually see an Apple in a CompUSA equivalent (ELDO, MediaWorld, etc)

Pretty much anywhere else, you have to go to specialized Apple retailer (and get better than Apple on-line store prices, but that is another detail :)

In France, you can find Mac everywhere, Virgin, Fnac, Surcouf, etc... I, for instance, never been in any Apple retailer.
 
Originally posted by skrillerd
At the risk of sounding like a smug american punk, I'm going to bring a point up for consideration: Apple isn't ripping you off. Everything is more expensive in Europe.

The problem is a free market. Or rather, 2 free markets, one here in the US, and one where you guys are in Europe. Just because the internet makes it seem like they're linked, they're not. At least, not at the consumer level. It's market forces that are determining the price you pay. Every company, not just Apple, charges as much as the market will bear. Obviously, enough people are paying what they ask, so they don't need to cut prices.

Everything is cheaper in the US.

When I was in school, my family was part of an exchange program with Belgian students. We hosted one, and there were about 30 of them total who came to my brother's school. What did the Belgian kids do in the US? They wen't shopping. For everything. Music, shoes, clothes. Any and every consumer product.

Everything is cheaper in the US. I'm not trying to brag. We pay a price for it. Strip malls, shopping malls, Wal-mart. I hate it all. If I could move to a place that lacked these things I would, even if everything cost me more. But the fact of the matter is that the US invented consumerism. We're really good at it. That's why stuff is cheaper here.

Now, I don't have any real evidence to back any of this up. Just anectdotal evidence. If anyone has any hard numbers to hit me with, I'm all ears (eyes).

99% of products sold in Europe have the same price as in US... Especially since the past few years! Before that yes, everything was more expensive but even then NOT THAT expensive as was and still is the story with Apple's products :mad:

Take any Wintel PC sold in US and compare it with EU prices... You will see what I'm talking about! Apple must do something ASAP about it and not just keeping the same old song (and an ugly one that is) :mad:

Hint: X-Box costs US $300 and in EU €300
 
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