Core explains iPod pricing

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EtienneK

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freematrix said:
Their stock levels are also poorly managed and you have to wait for stock for orders.
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Yup...

The local Nintendo Wii launch was shocking. Some shops only had a few (if any) consoles with lots of games, while other shops had lots of consoles and no games.

South Africa should start learning what the word "competition" means. Too many monopolies in this country.
 
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KampfGherkin

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Nice follow up.

A few months back I was checking or rather comparing MacBook Pro prices between Germany and SA. Interestingly enough the 17" MacBook was a few thousand Rands cheaper locally via www.zastore.co.za (and it was the newly released, as in current version).

I know! Whoddathunkit! :p
 
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Nod

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I had the same discussion with Canon about their 350D when it came out. They also gave me the "small market" and "import duties" story. Might have merit if they actually bought the 350D in some shop in the US.

Core is using the same excuse. They don't want to import in bulk, because they are too scared that people won't buy it (maybe the case in the beginning), now they just got accustomed to ripping people off, and the same excuse is still used.

As with Canon global, Apple themselves will probably just ask you to complain to Core directly about the price. Apple after all, do get their money.
 
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KampfGherkin

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EtienneK said:
Yup...

The local Nintendo Wii launch was shocking. Some shops only had a few (if any) consoles with lots of games, while other shops had lots of consoles and no games.

South Africa should start learning what the word "competition" means. Too many monopolies in this country.
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There are wii shortages across the entire globe. It's not just SA.
 
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PeterCH

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Abe said:
This whole argument is a load of hogwash. The pricing cannot be compared with Europe as the Apple pricing in Europe is higher due to the buying power of European customers. In a nutshell, they earn more then their US counterparts. In SA, we earn far less then both the US and European countries and the pricing should be compared accordingly.

The question to Core should be "Where do you get your stock from and what sort of margins do you have?". They are obviously not battling as they have an office in West Street.
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Actually salaries are higher in the United States. I know you're maybe saying the Dollar is low atm, but even with that, average salaries are
higher in the States. IT, law, Engineering and Medicine salaries are the highest in
the world, for example. The US has a bigger market which means the prices of products there will be cheaper, while the EU has a smaller market due
to perhaps individual markets being taken into consideration, eg Germany on is own, France on its own etc. Let's face it the US has 300 Million People while Western Europe - the majority market isn't nearly as big and is segmented plus there is a bigger VAT charge and maybe import tariffs?
The iPod is a US product after all.
 
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PeterCH

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freematrix said:
These guys are ripping us off.
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Whose fault is it then. Apple's. Let's face it, old turtle-neck-sweater wearing Stevie Jobbs doesn't care one bit about the 3rd world, because we're a TINY market. They probably sell more Macs in one medium sized East Coast city then in the whole of SA. So yes CORE is probably exploiting
the situation but they're not the only one. Every tech product in SA is more
expensive than its US/SG/EU counterpart. No exceptions.
 
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nexxus

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Meh, maybe it's just me, but their response makes a certain amount of sense. My brother got an iPod Classic from the UK and it's price wasn't much less there than here. SA is put in the 'Euro' zone by most big corporations, we get Z2 DVD's, the Euro PS3, etc. This isn't new.

I also don't see how you can put the blame on the distributer for us being a small market. We are, full stop. The vast majority don't have the ability to buy this stuff. The size of the market dictates the markup. Maybe there's a case if you said they should try to grow the market, but that's a very risky move, and they may simply have decided the benefits don't outweigh the risk.

Do you honestly expect item X, of which millions are sold in the US at a 10% markup to have the same markup here when maybe 10's of thousands might just get sold? You're a bit silly if you do. You can't have a low markup on a niche product and expect to stay in business for very long.
 
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noxibox

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Abe

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noxibox said:
Is it your contention that higher prices are an indication of greater purchasing power?
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It's probably more of a perception then a reality but:

UK Avg house price: £210,578
US Avg house price: $217,100

And from a recent news article here about IT Salaries:

Avg UK IT Salary: R564857
Avg US IT Salary: R504545

And these are quite badly skewed by an abnormally high US Programmer salary. Every other US salary is 20%-30% less.

The cost of living in the EU is higher then that of the US and this is reflected in the salaries, house costs, etc. This means that $1 to a US citizen is not the same as $1 to a EU citizen. An EU citizen can buy less for their $1. Which in turn means that EU citizens are willing to spend more dollars then a US citizen for the same product as the opportunity cost of that money is different in the EU.
 
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Abe

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PeterCH said:
Actually salaries are higher in the United States. I know you're maybe saying the Dollar is low atm, but even with that, average salaries are
higher in the States. IT, law, Engineering and Medicine salaries are the highest in
the world, for example.
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A recent news article on MyADSL would seem to disagree with that assesment. Also, if you have a look at the scandinavian countries, you will see that have some of the highest salaries in the world in $ terms. That, and some of the highest pricing :rolleyes:
 
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