Is mac an affordable option for those in USA?

[A.K]

I would like to know if the MacBook series is an affordable option there in USA and other countries. Im from India
and here the price for starting model of MacBook pro is almost 70000 rs and MacBook air is 60000 .(almost 75$ more due to tax) and its
not easily accessible here....only 1-2 authorised dealers in the capital city of the state. And there are barely any
service centres .
Actually apple is the only major company not focusing on Indian market as almost all others and fighting hard to get market share.
The lack of any reliable customer care and incredibly high price makes it a last choice among customers despite the
obvious quality of the devices.
I wonder why apple is so ignorant of the market potential in India or are they adopting a similar strategy in other
Countries too?

 

[Somerled]

Affordable is relative. I do not know what the conversion rate from your currency to the dollar. There is also no longer a "MacBook". There is "MacBook Pro" and "MacBook Air".

For me, and what I was wanting to do, I was going to spend $4k on a Windows 7 machine anyway, but when I priced the MacBook Pro it came in (for the same hardware, give or take) $600 cheaper.

Cannot answer to the reasoning of Apple. However, I imagine their market study team went through your market with a fine toothed comb - one thing they do well right now is marketing. All I can guess is that there is just not a large enough market outside of where you mentioned who would buy the Mac's. Market potential is only very slightly based on the number of people, but more on the average income of a said area. There is no potential to sell a $1000 Mac or PC to an area where the average income per year is (for example) $6000. That is just a guess. I have no idea what the actual numbers are.

 

[richsadams]

In addition to the good points that Somerled makes, another factor with respect to market entry are the host country's import duties/taxes and laws. The cost of doing business in some countries is just too high due to trade barriers and/or legal ramifications. With a county the size of India and the steadily rising incomes of its population it would seem likely that Apple would have every desire to do business there. That the business they do there is so small and the pricing high (at least by your standards) speaks to something other than the cost of goods or distribution.

To answer your original question, although Apple products are considered premium, yes the Macbook series of computers is affordable for a majority of the U.S. population. Based on a current currency conversion the Macbook Pro that you're talking about is about US$1425 in India. In the U.S. the base model (13-inch: 2.4 GHz) is about US$1200. I'm not sure what your GST and import taxes are, but that could easily account for the difference in price.

Hope that helps!