Pricing: Apple Defies Australian Government

daria42 writes "This week it was revealed that Apple has still not responded to Australia's Federal Parliament on the issue of why the prices of its products are significantly higher in Australia than they are in the US, five months after the query was first raised by a member of parliament from Australia's governing Labor party. Apple has refused to issue a statement on the matter or even acknowledge the issue. What will it take to get Apple to open up — a national enquiry?"

Comments

Retail Shipping...

[wsxyz]

Because even the inflated prices are still cheaper than buying from a foreign country and having it shipped?
And Apple very cleverly takes advantage of that fact?

Everything costs more in Australia

[cactopus]

Why attack Apple for pricing products so they make the same profit in every market per person? There's no reason why a $39,000 Nissan 350Z (I had a 2008GT) should cost $67,000 AUD. Everything costs more over here. This is made worse now that the USD is less valuable then the AUD.

I'd say the Australian government should be going after the automotive industry and many others to lower their prices and cost of living substantially. It doesn't cost that much to put a car on a boat and ship it. Japan to the US? (Low US price). Japan to Australia (shorter distance) (price almost double US model)

Re:If you don't like it

[Anonymous Coward]

Normally I'd agree. If people don't like the price being set by Apple they should shop elsewhere. For hardware this does have limitations however as certain sectors 'require' apple products and as such you have to pay an unfair price. If your then running a business out of Australia this makes you less able to compete in a free market.

The simple solution should be to allow purchases of products anywhere in the world at a common price and then you pay the shipping.

The problem with that solution is warranty returns/service.

HOWEVER what mainly started the inquest into the price difference wasn't actually hardware it was itunes and the price of music.

Consumer protection laws?

[antifoidulus]

It seems that Apple usually prices in the local consumer protection laws when pricing their models abroad. For instance, the US, Japan, and Hong Kong dont have any forced warranties of sorts, and all those prices are, when taking taxes and whatnot into account, about the same. However, in places like Europe and Australia where the government pretty much forces companies to provide multi-year warranties with their products companies have to price that into their products. Those laws are nice, but stop pretending they are free. Personally I would rather have the option of either buying the warranty OR taking a chance on my product not breaking(the vast, vast majority of them dont) instead of the government essentially forcing me to buy an extended warranty whether I want it or not. But of course maybe that is just me.

Re:Consumer protection laws?

[antifoidulus]

They sell those, but apparently the law has a different view of what the warranty should be, from the Australian Government

A consumer buys a plasma television for $6000. It stops working two years later. The supplier tells the consumer they have no rights to repairs or another remedy as the television was only under the manufacturerâ(TM)s warranty for 12 months. The supplier says the consumer should have bought an extended warranty, which would have given five yearsâ(TM) cover. A reasonable consumer would expect more than two yearsâ(TM) use from a $6000 television. Under the consumer guarantees, the consumer therefore has a statutory right to a remedy on the basis that the television is not of acceptable quality.

The supplier must provide a remedy free of charge. This may also amount to misleading a consumer about their rights.

IANAL, but this seems pretty cut and dry to me, if an expensive computer "breaks"(even if it is the fault of the user), then the company is responsible for replacing it, even if the original warranty has run out.

Re:If you don't like it

[GigaplexNZ]

You mean like the Galaxy Tab 10.1? It's barred from import into Australia due to Apple successfully winning an injunction against it due to patent disputes.

Re:If you don't like it

[ShakaUVM]

>>You mean like the Galaxy Tab 10.1? It's barred from import into Australia due to Apple successfully winning an injunction against it due to patent disputes.

And you say iPad prices went up, too??

Man, that's a weird coincidence.

Re:Canucks & kiwis get price gouged as well.

[xav_jones]

Part of the problem is that they are small markets and as such have less competition. All the people erroneously claiming shipping costs, government taxes and consumer protection laws just don't seem to have a clue about how companies fix their pricing based on what the market will bear (i.e. what they can get away with). And of course, this is the essence of capitalism. In the case of Australia, since the market is smaller there is less competition and some companies -- I'm looking at you Canon -- go to great lengths to keep their fat profit margins that they cannot sustain in other markets.

Case in point, "the average price of a movie ticket in Australia for 2010 was AUD$12.98. In the United States, though, the average ticket cost just $US7.89 (approximately AUD$7.40)" [1]

Having said all that, I don't mind the government looking out for it's people who are being priced gouged.

Oh, and any American who thinks this kind of complaint seems a bit whiny (and are under the delusion that there is much a consumer can do about it) you all squealed like stuck pigs when your gasoline hit $4 a gallon for goodness sakes.

[1] http://www.choice.com.au/reviews-and-tests/money/shopping-and-legal/shopping/cinema-rip-offs/page/do-the-math.aspx

Who mentioned the iPad?

[Namarrgon]

Certainly not TFA. My beef is with the iTunes store - to buy an album here costs AU$17.00 (US$17.63), a huge hike over the $10 price the US enjoys.

If I wanted an iPad, I could always import one from the US, but I can't buy an album from the US iTunes store; they refuse to sell it to me, which is a restriction of trade under Australian law, and something the ACCC has ruled is illegal, at least when applied to physical music media like CDs.

Re:Free Market?

[XDirtypunkX]

Actually, many Australians do import from Hong Kong and it is relatively painless as long as you make sure you are using a reputable importer. Even with the cost of shipping from Hong Kong and the importer's mark up, you still often only pay 2/3rds of what it would cost from an Australian retailer.

Re:Ban further imports

[1s44c]

Refuse sale and seize all their products under government jurisdiction until they answer. I'm sure that would get their attention.

That might work under a fascist state or even a communist one but last I heard Australia was still capitalist and AFAIK Apple hasn't actually broke any laws doing this.

Out of touch...

[Wovel]

The cost of everything is higher in Australia. Locally grown food costs more in Australia then it does in the US. The US government per diem is 2.5x higher in Sydney than New York City. This is not because the US government wants everyone to have more fun in Sydney.

How can they be so out of touch. It costs more to do everything because the cost of living is higher. Learn something about your own economy. Why should Apple be required to explain Australian economics to parliment. It is funny when Internet co mentors make these senseless claims. It is just scary when officials that should know better do it.

Re:Out of touch...

[Namarrgon]

Perhaps you could explain to AU iTunes customers how the cost of living adds 70% to the price of bits that happen to pass through Apple's servers before being sent here? There's no AU bricks-and-mortar or even AU staff required.

In many cases, cost of living has nothing to do with it. It used to be that $1USD ~= $1.50AUD so Australian iTunes prices were set accordingly, then when the exchange rate levelled, the US executives chortled over the extra 50% profits they were getting for zero extra cost. So long as people keep paying it, they'll keep charging it.

Re:It's not just apple

[sumdumass]

Have you ever stopped to think there might be hidden taxes in those prices? I mean either there is some AU import cabal sitting there making everything more expensive, or internal politics has taxed the items to some degree by either requiring a direct tax because of emissions, or warranty services or whatever.

My neighbor purchased some English car and had it imported to the US. It cost him close to 6k US on top of shipping to clear customs and then another 3k to get an inspection and US title for it. Now that's an individual but I know there are things pertaining to companies like Ford has a motor that is more cleaner and efficient then anything they sell in the US (*at least as of a few years ago) but only sells it in Europe because some regulation and union or rights licensing contract prohibits its sale in the US.

Re:Increased costs

[bug1]

And when Aussies starting to buy stuff online, bypassing their overpriced supply chain, the retails say the internet needs to fixed to make prices match their overpriced ones.