Why is Apple is so expensive?

• 

  mxyzptik on 21/08/2011 - 19:21

  http://news.techeye.net/business/apple-summoned-to-aussie-pa…

• 

  kiwipride on 21/08/2011 - 19:23

  -1

  ???? Why is a Ferrari expensive? Why is a Banana expensive? Why…..

  • 

    mxyzptik on 21/08/2011 - 21:08

    +3

    Bananas are expensive in Australia because of protectionism: while Australians are paying $10-15 a kilo for bananas, thanks to the protection offered Australian banana growers, the wholesale price for bananas slumped to under $1 a kilo in Ecuador as European markets responded to a banana oversupply.

    http://www.foodnews.co.nz/22129/banana-prices-hit-rock-botto…

    Another case of the poor Aussie consumer featherbedding vested interests.

    Luxury motor cars have been more expensive in Australia than many countries for decades because of higher taxes, I guess.

    They are not purely simple supply-and-demand situations.

    • 

      kiwipride on 21/08/2011 - 21:13

      oh.

• 

  scrimshaw on 21/08/2011 - 19:27

  +8

  Because Apple wants profits, that's why. You can also partially blame the Apple fanbois:

  if they charge more in Oz than in the US it is because Apple fanboys, like yourself, just give them money.

  • 

    mxyzptik on 21/08/2011 - 20:06

    Happy to give you a +!. :)

    Is it also because of the apathy and collaboration of so many?

• 

  mxyzptik on 21/08/2011 - 20:05

  +1

  "The Aussies have just worked out that video games are regularly 60 percent more expensive in Australia, and the squatters in the outback have to pay hundreds of dollars more for laptops and in some cases almost double what Americans pay for software from companies like Adobe and Microsoft."

  Read more: http://news.techeye.net/business/apple-summoned-to-aussie-pa…

• 

  llama on 21/08/2011 - 20:40

  +2

  Yep - the market sets the prices. Fanbois who "love Apple"… that is why.

  Or put another way - the products and marketing are so good that people will pay 2 to 4 times more than they need to.

  I've had 3 iPhones now. Need a replacement - do I spend $800 for iPhone 4 or $250 for a higher-spec'd and more powerful Android or Windows phone?

• 

  phunkyfeelone on 21/08/2011 - 20:41

  +2

  Guess what? Don't buy Apple and the price will come down. But Australian bogan mentality is must have latest 'thing', then put the hand out to the Government for boosts and bonuses. And the Government just implement rules and taxes to plug holes…

• 

  dreamscene on 21/08/2011 - 21:16

  +2

  We earn more money here. The minimum wage here is nearly twice that of US. Plus we don't have enough people living in Australia. We need to bring in more people from overseas via immigration, another 20 - 40 million to boost the population to 60 million people. (No middle Eastern people, obviously). Drop minimum wage to $7.50 / hr in Australia. Make the tax the same rate as the US, then and only then we can buy Apple products cheaper.
  Easy. Please don't negative vote me, unless you totally disagree with me. If you feel the same, but are scared to open to this fact, vote positive.

  • 

    mxyzptik on 21/08/2011 - 21:20

    Dreamscene: The tax on Apple products is only 10% (among the lowest in the world). The extra money is going to US-owned Apple not the Australian Government.

    The rest of your post is - imho - totally irrelevant (& of course designed to flame).

    Apple are NOT, of course, entitled to charge us more because we we earn more - although that IS EXACTLY what they have been doing, and others have been doing for decades

    Maybe that is your point :)

    • 

      dreamscene on 22/08/2011 - 01:38

      Apple charging more is straight up on the fact that we earn quite a bit more than US consumers. Simple fact. Like I said, bring in volume sales (40 million more people here in Australia), half the minimum wage and see how the prices will align. I am not just talking tax. Just highlighting the taboo subject no one touches on but always thinks about.

      I make more money as a blue collar worker than most Uni-grad professionals who work in white collar jobs in the US. I can afford to pay twice as much for an Apple product and twice as much for a car. Hell, most factory workers in Aus make more $$$ than white collar workers in the US.

      • 

        blackrider89 on 22/08/2011 - 02:17

        Minimum pay rate here is higher but in terms of GDP per capita (nominal or PPP), amarican ppl earn higher. Higher company tax but lower income tax.

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  mxyzptik on 22/08/2011 - 16:28

  +1

  In terms of general appreciation of Apple: while I am critical of their discriminatory pricing, in my experience their products have been, generally, superior to the competition over most of the last 3 years (especially Macs v other PCs, and in notebooks (the Air which came out over 3 years ago was amazing), and I love the ease of integration, eg apps and itunes on iphones, ipads, and ipods. I appreciate that Androids are now providing real competition now.

  … and their service has been great in my experience. http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/51346

  On pricing I think the simple "take-it-or-leave-it" approach wouldn't have helped me; I want to "take it - but for less" :)

  • 

    nieza on 01/09/2011 - 10:34

    +2

    Just wondering what non-apple PCs you own?

    The high-price of apple is just a marketing strategy (and a clever business one, too!). There's LOADS of research showing that the higher the price, the higher the perceived value of the product. (Same principle is used in those group buy deals where they claim the product is usually priced at $1000, but you're getting it at a 90% discount for only $100 - you think you're getting something valuable MERELY because the price is high.)

    Works for Nike, fancy clothes labels…foodstuffs… it's just one of those things.

    The studies in this sort of marketing tactic show that consumers THINK that the higher-priced product is better, and then - once they're bought it - they work much, much harder at defending their purchase decision: hence you get the fanboi mentality.

    After all, who is likely to go out and spend $800 on a product worth only $250, then freely admit that they're an idiot who made a terrible impulse-purchase?? The usual reaction is for that person to defend their purchase by saying things such as "I actually prefer having an extremely limited software palette", and "I am happy to pay more for a product whih is non-customisable, and must be completely replaced once one flimsy component fails", and the most ridiculous one "Even though macintosh PCs are made from the same parts, in the same countries as many other brands, I am still happy to pay more for them and blindly believe that they are magically better in some way"

    :P