Currency Conversion According to Apple
I don't get excited by the stock exchange or anything that involves banks.. unless it affects me directly, then I take an interest!
I mentioned Apple's new toy earlier this evening, but I couldn't access their web stores to check pricing. If I had done I'd have been able to report that, while the rest of us know that 1 euro != 1 dollar, Apple obviously missed that lesson.
They have somehow managed to do a direct one for one price conversion!
A $299 device in the US becomes a $400+ device in Ireland (according to xe.com's rates)!!!!
So if you want to get one of the new toys you might as well fly to the US - you can have a nice weekend and pick one up at the same time. The money you save on the ipod will probably cover the flight! (well maybe not, but exagerration is fun)
I mentioned Apple's new toy earlier this evening, but I couldn't access their web stores to check pricing. If I had done I'd have been able to report that, while the rest of us know that 1 euro != 1 dollar, Apple obviously missed that lesson.
They have somehow managed to do a direct one for one price conversion!
A $299 device in the US becomes a $400+ device in Ireland (according to xe.com's rates)!!!!
So if you want to get one of the new toys you might as well fly to the US - you can have a nice weekend and pick one up at the same time. The money you save on the ipod will probably cover the flight! (well maybe not, but exagerration is fun)
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The price isn't quite the rip-off you think. They quote prices in the US without sales tax, where as our $399 price includes 21% VAT. If you want to compare apples with apples the Irish price is actually €329.75, which is only €30 over the US price.
Yup, the Yankie tax system makes everything look rosey before you get to the checkout.
Gary - that's very true, but a lot of the Apple products end up costing a LOT more over here even after you factor in sales tax
Michele
I don't know about that... Apple are selling the MacBook @ $1099/€1049, MacBook Pro @ $1999/€1899, and the Mac Pro @ $2499/€2549. Once you remove the VAT they're an average of 10% dearer over here, which is a reasonable ammount to allow to cover yourself for currency fluctuations, especially as the US dollar has plummeted in value over the last couple of years.