The weakening Rand has finally caught up with the iPad 2 in South Africa, with Apple products distributor Core Group listing significantly increased prices on their website.
Prices were hiked by between R500 and R1,000; so if you were looking to catch the wave of iPad gaming, you may proceed to kick yourself.
This follows a minor iPad 2 price increase during 2011, when Core raised retail prices by R100 across the range of iPad 2 products.
Core boss RJ van Spaandonk explained at the time that Core were keeping the prices artificially low using their forward cover, which fixes the exchange rate at which they import products to protect against the fluctuating Rand.
Van Spaandonk warned that the forward cover wouldn’t last forever, and that a significant jump in price was on the cards if the forward cover ran out with the Rand weaker than R6.75 to the US Dollar.
iPad 2
The table below shows the new prices and how they compare to overseas prices. It should be noted that US prices are shown without any kind of sales tax.
| iPad 2 model | Core (ZA) – New | Apple US* | Apple UK | Apple EU (FR) | Apple EU (NL/DE) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *US prices exclude VAT or other sales tax | |||||
| USD=R8.15, GBP=R12.60, EUR=10.40 | |||||
| 16GB Wi-Fi | R 4,999 | $499 (R4067) | £399 (R5027) | 489 € (R5086) | 479 € (R4982) |
| 32 GB Wi-Fi | R 6,199 | $599 (R4882) | £479 (R6035) | 591 € (R6146) | 579 € (R6022) |
| 64 GB Wi-Fi | R 7,199 | $699 (R5697) | £559 (R7043) | 693 € (R7207) | 679 € (R7062) |
| 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G | R 6,499 | $629 (R5126) | £499 (R6287) | 609 € (R6334) | 599 € (R6230) |
| 32GB Wi-Fi + 3G | R 7,599 | $729 (R5941) | £579 (R7295) | 711 € (R7394) | 699 € (R7270) |
| 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G | R 8,699 | $829 (R6756) | £659 (R8303) | 813 € (R8455) | 799 € (R8310) |
At the time of writing, Dion Wired still had the iPad 2 listed at 2011’s prices in their online store.
One of their sales staff said that in-store prices had already been increased, so the lower online prices probably wouldn’t last much longer.
Article courtesy of MyBroadband – iPad 2 prices hiked again
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What’s funny is that it’s very idiotic step, since in March will be iPad-3. Who didn’t sell iPad-2 yet will be in ass.