iPad prices have been going up and down in the Philippines mainly because our main source is still the gray market. Supply and demand play a big role here so we won’t see stable prices anytime soon. I’m very curious as to how much the official prices will be so I did some research. I basically indexed how much the difference is in the prices between Macs and iPods in the Philippines and the US using the official Apple websites. I got a decent median percentage based on the difference and applied it to the US prices to get an estimate for Philippine prices. Here’s what I got.
Currency exchange rated used: $1 USD = P46
I sent some SMS’ing and researched on online prices and got the average gray market prices for the iPad in the Philippines. Here’s a chart showing the prices of the iPad in the US, the estimated 20% official PH price, and the current gray market price.
Of course all of these computations can be useless if the real price difference would be somewhere along the Macs (10%-13%) and not in the middle (20%). I’m thinking though that it will be a little less than the iPod but more than the Mac since the technology used for this mainly comes from the iPod and iPhone technologies. Based on this chart though the most “tipid” iPad unit to buy is the 64GB since it’s just 4.4% than the estimated median.
Anyway if you’re not the early adapter type your best bet is to just wait until the official prices come in and the iPads become available locally sometime in August. If you’re desperate in getting a unit within the next few weeks then I strongly recommend that you try to purchase the iPads near the 20%-25% prices. If you’re really really really impatient then go ahead and buy one at +30%.
The additional 5%-10% might be worth the premium if you’re going to use the iPad for the following reasons:
- Use it to impress your partner on a date (lol).
- Use it to present. Great ice breaker for clients. Won’t be enough to close deals though.
- You want to be associated with the iPad for personal branding. Very underrated reason.
- You’re just bloody impatient and you don’t mind the +5%-10% just as long as you get it now now now.
Yes, I had a lot of time on my hands when I made this entry. LOL! Hope you find this helpful.
You are very helpful Mr. Ople. I hope to meet you one day. Maybe when I pass by in Victory Greenhills -JA Moran
Thanks JA!
Bro, where would you recommend a person to buy a macbook?
Let’s discuss when we meet up. I think I can get you a good discount from one of my friends who owns a Mac store.
Carlo,
Do you still have those discounted iPads you posted/tweeted a few days ago?
Sorry Patrick, sold out!
This is very helpful. It is october now. I wonder whether it the real prices are now officially available.
thank you.