Unacceptable
- Thread starter Paragon
- Start date
rezba
simpleutilisateurpuissant
Originally posted by benpoole
Eh, didn't the Greeks have something to do with "founding" politics??
Yes, of course. They founded democracy, even if it was not really what we use to call democracy now. Modern democracy, in a sens, has been founded in UK, with the Bill of Rights. France hasn't even founded the concept of Republic, because Romans did it a lonf time before. But french people think of themselves as the country that gave to the all world the modern conception of freedom and democracy. They think the values of revolution are universal. And, in a sense, they are sufficiently proud to bring a delinquant and a fascist at the final turn of their presidential elections, and carrying on giving lessons to others. I was just kidding about it.
Zenzefiloan
Registered
Yeap Greeks founded democracy !!!!
ksv
web developer
Sorry, my Civilization II joke was just to symbolize that politics aren't always as easy as on computer games
The fact is that Norway wouldn't function if was as capitalistic as the US, and had as low taxes. The only two large industries in Norway are fish and oil export. Norway has about 1 % of the worldwide oil market. Not much, but enough to feed Norway's money reserves with billions of dollars every year. None of these industries are owned or directly controlled by the State, but have a high tax rate. If taxes here were as low as in the US, Norwegian economy would be back to as it was in the 50's. And with today's population, the whole nation would've collapsed.
Currently very many companies owned by the State are being sold to privateers. Hence, Norwayis not a socialistic country.
Norwegian politics are too complex for me to explain in detail, so I recommend you to take a look at http://www.odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/
I'm not complaining about Mac prices here, BTW. They are expensive, and there is a difference between US and Norwegian prices. It's mostly related to Apple's bad marketing strategies in non-US countries, I suppose. The average Norwegian PC user doesn't even know what a Mac is, or what Apple Computer is doing. It has also been very hard to get Macs in Norway for a long time. The only "large" Mac reseller in Norway before the internet Apple Store started a couple of months ago, was OfficeLine, and their prices are about 20 % higher than Apple's.
But, what does an internet store help for people without previously having a PC/Mac? We need retail stores.
In my city, which is Norway's 3rd or 4th largest, there is no Mac retailer at all!
The fact is that Norway wouldn't function if was as capitalistic as the US, and had as low taxes. The only two large industries in Norway are fish and oil export. Norway has about 1 % of the worldwide oil market. Not much, but enough to feed Norway's money reserves with billions of dollars every year. None of these industries are owned or directly controlled by the State, but have a high tax rate. If taxes here were as low as in the US, Norwegian economy would be back to as it was in the 50's. And with today's population, the whole nation would've collapsed.
Currently very many companies owned by the State are being sold to privateers. Hence, Norwayis not a socialistic country.
Norwegian politics are too complex for me to explain in detail, so I recommend you to take a look at http://www.odin.dep.no/odin/engelsk/
I'm not complaining about Mac prices here, BTW. They are expensive, and there is a difference between US and Norwegian prices. It's mostly related to Apple's bad marketing strategies in non-US countries, I suppose. The average Norwegian PC user doesn't even know what a Mac is, or what Apple Computer is doing. It has also been very hard to get Macs in Norway for a long time. The only "large" Mac reseller in Norway before the internet Apple Store started a couple of months ago, was OfficeLine, and their prices are about 20 % higher than Apple's.
But, what does an internet store help for people without previously having a PC/Mac? We need retail stores.
In my city, which is Norway's 3rd or 4th largest, there is no Mac retailer at all!
Yeah, I live in a massive urban area, about 40 miles from the centre of London in the UK. The population of my borough exceeds 280, 000, yet we have no "consumer-friendly" Apple dealers in the area.
The nearest we get to an Apple dealership is a "PC World" (fellow Brits can groan with me on this one) about 40 minutes' drive away. There's also a business-only graphic design dealership who sell the odd Mac, again around 30 minutes away.
The web-based Apple Store is a good idea, and certainly in the UK is competitive in terms of price, but that shouldn't be the whole story for Pete's sake!
The average joe here in the UK knows what he knows about Apple from seeing lurid iMacs in the background of many TV shows. Take this free product placement away, and there would be just about no perception of Macs here, Apple UK are so woeful in their marketing efforts.
The nearest we get to an Apple dealership is a "PC World" (fellow Brits can groan with me on this one) about 40 minutes' drive away. There's also a business-only graphic design dealership who sell the odd Mac, again around 30 minutes away.
The web-based Apple Store is a good idea, and certainly in the UK is competitive in terms of price, but that shouldn't be the whole story for Pete's sake!
The average joe here in the UK knows what he knows about Apple from seeing lurid iMacs in the background of many TV shows. Take this free product placement away, and there would be just about no perception of Macs here, Apple UK are so woeful in their marketing efforts.
changomarcelo
Friend of the elves
Paragon, if you would like to buy the same computer and the same display in Argentina, you would have to pay 4200 dollars!!
That´s a lot of money, I think it´s a lot for anyone who lives in denmark, USA, China or any country, but imagine that, for me, 4200 dollars means 18 times my monthly income.
That´s a lot of money, I think it´s a lot for anyone who lives in denmark, USA, China or any country, but imagine that, for me, 4200 dollars means 18 times my monthly income.
changomarcelo
Friend of the elves
New iMac G4 700 Mhz CDRW: U$D 2320 (U$D 1399 in US)
iMac G4 800 Mhz Superdrive: U$D 3204 (U$D 1900 in US)
iMac G4 800 Mhz Superdrive: U$D 3204 (U$D 1900 in US)
Gwailo
B.A. Economics (Hon)
AppleCare for me, in Canada, was $149 CDN which is about $84 US. Not quite $300-$500.
I was in London last year on a consulting job, and bought an iMac Sage DV+ for someone that cost £750, which is very close to the US price.
All in all however, a 46% discrepancy is unacceptable. Ask someone in the US to buy you one and ship it--no joke!
Heck I'd do it prodiving there weren't any export laws prohibiting it...
Paragon
Interstellar traveler
Originally posted by Gwailo
AppleCare for me, in Canada, was $149 CDN which is about $84 US. Not quite $300-$500.
I was in London last year on a consulting job, and bought an iMac Sage DV+ for someone that cost £750, which is very close to the US price.
All in all however, a 46% discrepancy is unacceptable. Ask someone in the US to buy you one and ship it--no joke!
I have thought about this myself...I could probably save a lot of money, even if I had to pay some import tax. Unfortunately I don't know if it's legal...
Gwailo
B.A. Economics (Hon)
Something else occurs to me: what about government taxes to corporations? I'm not sure about the taxation system in the EU, but I know that they are WAY higher than in NA (with the exception of good old Québec, who are the most taxed )
Capital gains taxes to Apple Europe might be so high that they have to increase their prices to offset that marginal loss.
)Capital gains taxes to Apple Europe might be so high that they have to increase their prices to offset that marginal loss.
Re selling US Macs overseas...
Someone has just sold a top of the range G4 iMac with 768MB RAM etc., a US model, on the UK eBay site for £1,220. It was boxed, as new, and the US guy was responsible for mailing. He has another 5 to sell. THe bids started at £900, and boy was I tempted!
So I guess it can be worthwhile...
A few years ago, when exchange rates were exceptionally good for the £ buying the $, and Macs were even more expensive here, several UK dealerships offered "grey" import Macs... i.e. US-sourced systems, but I note that this seems to have pretty much stopped now.
Someone has just sold a top of the range G4 iMac with 768MB RAM etc., a US model, on the UK eBay site for £1,220. It was boxed, as new, and the US guy was responsible for mailing. He has another 5 to sell. THe bids started at £900, and boy was I tempted!
So I guess it can be worthwhile...
A few years ago, when exchange rates were exceptionally good for the £ buying the $, and Macs were even more expensive here, several UK dealerships offered "grey" import Macs... i.e. US-sourced systems, but I note that this seems to have pretty much stopped now.
Well Canada is as socialist as can be. We pay 50% income tax plus 15% sales tax for a wonderfull grand total of 65% tax!
We still pay more for the same computers. For example a US Tibook is 2500. A Canadian TiBook should be 2500*1.5 (exchange rate) = 3750$ Canadian but it is sold for 4000$ so we get ripped off 250$. I guess Apple has to do this though, because the exchange rates are constantly changing and if the Canadian dollar were to go down by a few percentage points, they would actually be selling it for less then in the states. At least it's not 1500$ difference though
We still pay more for the same computers. For example a US Tibook is 2500. A Canadian TiBook should be 2500*1.5 (exchange rate) = 3750$ Canadian but it is sold for 4000$ so we get ripped off 250$. I guess Apple has to do this though, because the exchange rates are constantly changing and if the Canadian dollar were to go down by a few percentage points, they would actually be selling it for less then in the states. At least it's not 1500$ difference though
nkuvu
Gone
Leave it to testuser to bring reality into my joke...
I'd be a lot happier with my taxes if they didn't go towards buying $4000 hammers.
That's another (sort of) joke! Don't criticize me for not researching the actual price of hammers for the government! (But it's a lot more than I'd pay...)
I'd be a lot happier with my taxes if they didn't go towards buying $4000 hammers.
That's another (sort of) joke! Don't criticize me for not researching the actual price of hammers for the government! (But it's a lot more than I'd pay...)
From today's macintouch:
--Kirk McElhearn notes a new Apple promotion: "Word is starting to circulate in Europe about an Apple buy-back promotion. Apple will take old computers and offer from 200 to 400 Euros off a new G4. The Apple Russia site already shows this, but none of the other European sites do yet. It should not be long." --
So you should be able to get a discount soon... If you trade up.
--Kirk McElhearn notes a new Apple promotion: "Word is starting to circulate in Europe about an Apple buy-back promotion. Apple will take old computers and offer from 200 to 400 Euros off a new G4. The Apple Russia site already shows this, but none of the other European sites do yet. It should not be long." --
So you should be able to get a discount soon... If you trade up.
