“The iPad seems like a pretty good deal in the US, where prices start at $499 (£309), but in the UK it costs from £429 ($692), and while the product’s selling like crazy here, a lot of Brits just think the price is too, too high to buy,” Jonny Evans reports for 9 to 5 Mac.
“A survey commissioned by Broadbandgenie confirms this, based on a poll of over 1,300 visitors to the price comparison site,” Evans reports. “Over 60 percent of visitors said the iPad wasn’t worth £400 or more while over 200 declared the Apple tablet wasn’t really worth the price.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Never used it, probably never even touched one, really have no idea what it does; and yet they have an opinion about its value. It’s like Windows-only sufferers complaining about Mac prices. Here’s an idea we wish would catch on everywhere: STFU if you have no idea WTF you’re talking about.
I find the MDN take offensive to be honest. As an educated iPad owner, MDN has done its usual by tarring us all with the same brush.
Yes, some people may never have used one or seen a iPad. But as an iPad owner & Apple fan it is still a difficult pill to swallow that we do pay far more for the iPad then the U.S does.
Telling us all to STFU is just pitiful to be honest.
yeh this mdn take was the reason i stopped going to this website, what a tit, heres an idea, GFY mdn!
If you buy an I pad 64 gb version not 3 g it will cost you americans $960in the uk, still thinks it’s cheep MDN ? I’m an Apple supporter but you are talking out of your ar£@ and STFU too !
A new reason for Brits to riot in the streets
“We need free iPads”
MDN what are you , 16? You sound like an angry spoiled brat.
Also here in Netherlands, I paid 499 euros for the cheapest iPad. This is the equivalent of 682 dollars!!!
You have to admit, a price of $692 instead of $499 is a pretty steep mark up and not really justified – even taking in to account the differences in taxes between the two countries.
…to paraphrase an astute Britisher: “let me tell you how it will be, there’s one iPad for you, nineteen for me…because I’m the VATman, yeah yeah.”
…wonder how many iPads the Royal Family has?
Is that Apple’s doing or government?… You got your free health care don’t ya? So no worries. Cheers!
And enjoy that tuition hike. Things can’t stay cheap forever.
Just say no to socialism and the prices will eventually go down.
Mdn what a bunch of wankers!! I’ve never used a bentley but I can still say it’s still too expensive. I’ve never liked mdn’s take on matter more biased than the daily mail!! Note to self never read another post on mdn crappy site. Ta ta from the UK.
VAT is not actually an ‘end consumer’ tax because a company/business can be a ‘consumer’. For example we buy computers to use in the company (we are the end consumers) we pay VAT, but having a VAT number we can claim back the VAT, an individual cannot get a VAT number from the government – so they can’t. It is, as always, the way to ensure you squeeze the little guy. Why do governments like it? Easy — because while companies are paying, and then claiming back, VAT the government has got its hands on all that cash!
Anyway Apple is not the worst, if you want to see an out and out thief in terms of manipulating charged prices look no further than Adobe. You Americans should go to Adobe’s online store and change the store setting to Europe or the UK and see what they charge for Photoshop!!! They are thieves — pure and simple.
Brits are still bitter over the ass kicking they got … twice.
Dumb comment mdn. For all the obvious reasons. If you were born in another country you would have the inclinations of extremists.
@ Crass MDN take. You clearly have little idea what you are talking about and resort to your usual ‘anyone who criticises Apple must be ignorant’ line. Apple gear is overpriced in the UK. Why don’t take your own advice? “STFU if you have no idea WTF you’re talking about.”
… unbookmarking and signing off this website for good. Goodbye.
Wow, where to start…
1. MDN: your takes are soemtimes insightful, occasionally childish; this time you’re acting like a spoilt teen.
2. A number of people have this right – VAT is payable by anyone without a VAT number (which is used to claim the tax back).
3. Apple charges elevated prices in the UK to buffer itself against exchange rate fluctuations. Apparently.
4. For those who are dragging the discussion towards ‘socialist healthcare bad, Obama sucks balls’ (which MDN comments all too frequently do) it’s worth pointing out that the current healthcare system in the USA costs twice as much (as a proportion of GDP) than in the UK:
http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/
5. MDN: shame you couldn’t be bothered to quote the rest of the article:
‘Over time, the tablet is likely become a standard gadget in the majority of UK households’
‘strong interest in the iPad in the UK… …the iPad is the most desired consumer electronics item this Christmas’
To call the idiot that wrote this piece sophomoric would be an insult to sophomores. FFS man, how old are you, 12?
You think you help Apple’s cause by writing BS like this but in the end you are no better than the MS crowd that we have argued with over the decades.
You are a disgrace to Apple’s name!
PS. To qualify myself it appears that I must add that I own 4 iphones, 4 Macbook Pro’s, 1 Mac Pro, 1 G4 Chrome door, 2 Apple Tv’s, 1 Airport Extreme and 1 Airport Express.
All bought in the USA at a much cheaper cost than the folks in the UK. Sorry but the Apple fans in the UK are being screwed. The question is are they being screwed by their Government or Apple or both!
Let’s see: Apple websites…
US: ‘iPad From $499’ (+ 9% tax) = $543.91 = £335.56
UK: ‘iPad From £429’ (inc 17.5% VAT) = £429.00
£429.00 –
£335.56 =
£93.44 difference = $151.46
APPLE IS RIPPING OFF A BRITISH CUSTOMER $151.46 ON EVERY IPAD SOLD.
Before the ‘shipping’ argument is used… does it really cost $151.46 extra per iPad to ship a batch of hardware from China to US as from China to UK? I really, really don’t think so!
Modern Apple = pure greed!
When the iPad launched in the UK on the 28th of May Sterling was at a 12 month low against the Dollar.
$499 / 1.43 = £348.95 add on 5% import duty and VAT at 17.5% and you come to £430.52
Apple has left the price the same so that they are insulated from currency swings. Given that they’ve not been able to make iPads fast enough the pricing isn’t affecting sales. If it were Apple would drop the price to £399. Apple will do a Black Friday offer in the UK so if you wait till then you’ll be able to get on cheaper.
Those from UK don’t have it as bad as they think. Korea is just now getting the iPad. I’m not sure for what model but they Would have to pay 1.62 million Won or about (1,456 $ US or 905 pounds.) This is due to a 3 year contract.
If Brits want to complain then they should complain to their government not Apple. Stuck up people tend to complain and feel entitled. and I am not just referring to Brits either.
It’s not Apple’s fault the Greenback is in the toilet. Apple isn’t printing money as fast as possible.
On the bright side, with the $US in free fall, as soon as American labor is cheaper than Chinese labor, Apple will bring their contract manufacturing back to the USA and the unemployment problem will be solved.
So Brits happily pay WAAAAAY too much for virtually everything and they -for some reason – pick up in the idea that iPads are too expensive?
What about those oil changes for their cars that cost 50 pounds? What about those new car tires that cost twice what they cost in the US and only last 20,000 miles?
What about the cost of celery, or petrol, or chicken breasts. Train trip from Wiltshire to London is 98 pounds!
Apart from a good price on Stilton cheese, England is absolutely insane when it comes to costs.
It’s an upsidedown world in the UK: A world where the truth never gets in the way of a good argument.
Maybe in protest, Brits could rally their 20,000,000 teens to kick the shit out of any innocent person walking the streets after dark. Oh, wait…. they already do that.
How civilized…
@TimD
No Black Friday sales in the UK as we don’t celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving
For the record: I had my iPad bought in the U.S. by a visiting friend. Cheaper _and_ earlier