Apple cuts iPod prices in Korea
updated 08:10 am EST, Wed February 2, 2005
Korean iPod prices cut
Apple yesterday announced that it will , following cuts by other manufacturers last week. The JoongAng Daily reports that the discounts are only for Apple's hard-disk drive music players and exclude the flash-based iPod Shuffle: "Local representatives even asked the media to 'keep quiet' about the price cuts, saying that headquarters feared opposition from other Asian countries. Kim Ji-hyun, a spokesperson for Apple Korea, said that the company wants to change people's perception of the brand as an expensive one." Samsung officials said that Apple may be using Korea as "the battleground because they want to get their grips on the local market here before they deal with Korean MP3 makers abroad." Apple lowered its 20GB iPod pricing nearly 14 percent from 418,000 won to 363,000 won.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2005
Nice!
Or, as a Korean would say, "As-sa!"...
I was just about to buy a Mini anyway here before I left the country to go on a long vacation, despite the formerly inflated prices for Apple gear here. Hopefully the price drop will come into effect in time (I leave in 2 weeks). The Korean Apple Store is down - I can't really read the message but presumably they're updating it with new prices/marketing messages.
I'm glad Apple is finally doing something about their horrible marketing in Korea. Koreans would go ape s**t over their products if they knew how good they were. I teach English to elementary and middle-schoolers here and they're all extremely fashionable. Most middle-schoolers (and many elementary students) have cellphones AND iRiver MP3 players. The couple of times I've mentioned iPod I get a blank stare.
Of course, nobody has a Mac in Korea either - and Korean websites rarely work at all on a Mac browser. At least the fonts show up right...
There is a tiny Apple store at the edge of downtown with one person working there, that takes too long to get new products and charges too much for them when they do. I remember waiting interminably for Panther - they always told me, "next week, next week..." I was amazed when they got it. The box had no Korean on it save for a paper insert inside the shrinkwrap - it was directly imported from the U.S.
Apple Korea is right to have a sense of urgency over the MP3 market - whoever has been running the show for the last few years has been dead asleep at the wheel.