04/11/2008, 7:30pm, EDT
Friday, April 11th
Briefly: Aussie, US iPod price difference
In brief: There is a stark pricing discrepancy for Australian iPods, iPresentee themes for Keynote have debuted, Sonnet has cut prices on its Fusion line of SATA devices, Aspyr has updated its Game Agent and a Middle East Mac newsletter is now one year old ... There are some substantial differences in iPod pricing between the US and Australia. With the Aussie dollar at 0.92 US, you might expect US and Aussie prices for iPods to be relatively similar, but this is not the case. The 1GB iPod Shuffle: USD$49 = AUD$54 exchange, selling for AUD$65. The 8GB nano USD$199 == AUD$221 exchange, selling for AUD$279. The 16GB iPod classic USD$349 == AUD$387 exchange, selling for AUD$479.
iPresentee themes for Keynote debut
iPresentee, the developer of add-ons for Apple’s iWork and iLife applications, has released Keynote Motion Themes to be used with Apple's Keynote presentation software. iPresentee presents five new Keynote themes: Orbit, Gear, Balloons, Light and Time. All themes incorporate moving bacground graphics and fourteen master slides. Creating a presentation using Keynote Motion Themes is exactly the same as creating a presentation using the usual themes — you can add, edit, and format text; add photos or movies; and use Keynote’s transitions and special effects.
Sonnet cuts Fusion SATA prices
Sonnet Technologies has announced a price reduction for the company's Fusion line of SATA storage solutions for professional content creation and editing. he The Fusion D400RAID system is available in 2TB to 4TB configurations in a reduced price range of $2,995 to $4,295, and the Fusion D800RAID system is now available in 4TB, 6TB, and 8TB models ranging from $4,695 to $7,195. Sonnet's rackmount Fusion R400RAID also reflects new pricing; it is now available in 2TB, 3TB, and 4TB models ranging from $2,995 to $4,295.
Aspyr updates Game Agent
Aspyr Media has released a free update for the Game Agent application for Mac OS X. Aspyr's Game Agent is free utility that allows you to easily match your computer hardware with the system requirements of Aspyr's game titles. Game Agent will automatically identify which games will run on your current system and determine necessary system upgrades for any other Aspyr games, if needed. It also lets you see what games will run on current Mac models Apple sells, in case you are looking to buy a new computer or want to check system requirements against a different machine.
Middle East Mac mag now one year old
Shuffle, the newsletter of the Emirates Mac Apple User Group has now been in print for one year. The founder writes "We started with 1000 copies and currently print 9000 and we have English and Arabic content. It's written, designed and produced by Apple fans throughout the Middle East. I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed over the year to making Shuffle a publication that we can all be proud of. Without all your help this wouldn't have been possible so a big, collective thank you to all."
Filed under: iPod, gaming
Other story tags: update, Case, keynote, iPod shuffle, Nano, Aspyr, Sonnet
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morons...
This is what happens when you subsidize the "free shipping" by building it into the price. Little hidden fees are still hidden, but you get a realistic figure on what it's going to cost YOU, not the company that makes it, to get the little device to you.
Were I an Aussie, I'd prefer to be able to pick and choose a shipping mode, not just have it built in to the price and be locked in to one option.
The situation is so bad, when I recently wished to purchase a relatively up-market AV receiver, I actually managed to finance a trip to the United Kingdom, purchase my receiver in the UK (which by the way, isn’t renowned for its cheap prices either) and still come out ahead of what it would have cost to buy in Australia.
Something is seriously wrong here and, given that we now have a trade agreement with the US, most of the pricing discrepancies noted in these forums and elsewhere can fairly and squarely be put at the feet of people profiteering from a relatively small and technologically unsophisticated market.
There are a number of companies and individuals that have started importing Apple products directly from the US and I would strongly recommend all Australian’s contemplating purchasing Apple products to consider using them.
Apple has an international warranty on most of their products and the savings can easily run into thousands of dollars.
Or, alternatively, finance a holiday in the US on the savings you will make from purchasing your Apple products there !
MDS
The global economy is so dependent on the health and size of the American market that vast majority of global manufacturers have agreed to take the severe cuts in their profit margins over the past years in order to maintain their presence in the US markets. This goes for everything, from iPods, to cars, to furniture, to clothing and other stuff. This all in hopes that the US economy would somehow miraculously recover, pulling US dollar back up.
At the same time, the rest of the global economy, and their currencies, continue along (more-or-less).
Your iPods (in Australia, Europe or elsewhere) aren't any more expensive than they ever were. Neither are they in the US. This is how business is done today.
In the US Apple store, a 17inch 2.5Ghz MacBook Pro sells for US $2799. In Australia, the same computer sells for AUD $3799. Converted at todays exchange rate the Australian MacBook Pro should sell for $3015. My maths isn't great but that is a discrepancy of almost AUD $800.
I'm sorry, tax and shipping cannot possibly account for this $800 difference.
Apple - any comments ?
Secondly, while the exchange rate has touched 94c, it has moved quite dramatically between about 87c and 94c just in the last few weeks. You can't expect Apple to change their prices every morning according to the exchange rates.
Once you take this into account, I think the prices are actually pretty close.