| Apple Launches iTunes & Online Apple Stores in New Zealand |
|
| Written by Philip Roy | |||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 06 December 2006 | |||||||||||||||||
|
Apple today also opened the online Apple Store New Zealand (www.apple.com/nz/store/), where customers can quickly and conveniently purchase Apple's complete lineup of innovative products, including the wildly popular iPod digital music player, the critically acclaimed Intel based Mac desktop and notebook computers, the iLife ‘06 suite of digital lifestyle applications, a vast assortment of iPod and Mac accessories from Apple and third parties and Mac OS X, the world's most advanced operating system. "We're thrilled to bring the iTunes Store and the online Apple Store to our customers in New Zealand just in time for the holidays," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "With over two million songs, the iTunes Store features the largest catalogue of local and international music in New Zealand, and with the new online Apple Store, it's easier than ever to shop for everything from a personally engraved iPod to a customized Mac." With a catalogue of over two million songs, the iTunes Store features the most music of any digital music store in New Zealand with songs priced at just NZ$1.79, music videos at NZ$3.59 and most albums at NZ$17.99. Exclusive music featured on iTunes includes tracks from New Zealand artists Fat Freddy's Drop, Brooke Fraser, Tim Finn, The Datsuns and Bic Runga as well as extensive catalogues from New Zealand greats including Shihad, Crowded House, The Black Seeds, Breaks Co-Op, Elemeno P and Dei Hamo. International exclusives on iTunes include albums from The Doors, Faithless, Incubus, Foo Fighters, George Michael and more. The iTunes Store features iTunes Originals from international stars Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ben Harper, Black Eyed Peas and Jack Johnson. The iTunes podcast directory currently features over 65,000 podcasts, including featured New Zealand podcasts from TVNZ, The Voice Booth and Radio NZ. At the online Apple Store New Zealand, customers can browse and purchase Apple hardware, software, accessories and a large selection of third party products with just a few clicks of a mouse. Customers can custom engrave any iPod through the online Apple Store, and can easily custom configure their Mac to suit their individual needs. With iPod engraving, a new holiday gift guide and the convenience of shopping from home or the office, the online Apple Store is the ideal shopping destination this holiday season. The online Apple Store offers special education pricing to teachers and university and college students. Additionally, Apple announced that the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition is now available in New Zealand, only at the new online Apple Store. The iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED, available in 4GB and 8GB models, comes in a beautiful red aluminum enclosure and features up to 24 hours of battery life, Apple's innovative Click Wheel and an incredibly thin and light design. Apple will contribute a portion of proceeds from the sale of each iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED to the Global Fund to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Pricing & Availability The iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition is available today in a 4GB model for NZ$349 including GST and an 8GB model for NZ$449 including GST through the online Apple Store (www.apple.co.nz). All iPod nano models include redesigned earbud headphones providing superior comfort, fit and sound quality, and a USB 2.0 cable. The second generation iPod nano features up to 24 hours of battery life and completely skip-free playback.* iPod nano requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port and Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later and iTunes 7.0.2 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) and iTunes 7.0.2 or later. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. * Battery life and number of charge cycles vary by use and settings. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. Music capacity is based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding; actual capacity varies by content. Photo capacity is based on iPod-viewable photos transferred from iTunes. Related Articles
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Comments (4)
Sam McEwan
said:
|
|||||||||||||||||
Apple today launched
the iTunes Store (
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments |
Wow this is great, just great finally Apple NZ is here properly. I remember being gutted by a Magnum Mac technician last year when I asked when Apple would come to New Zealand properly along with the iTunes music store, he simply replied "when we add another 20 million to our population". So understandably I was rather pessimistic about this as a possibility. Upon receiving an e-mail from renaissance saying the online store is no long in operation I felt ill for a second thinking they were closing down, but was thrilled to see it direct to an official apple.com link. I signed straight up for an iTunes music store account and brought two games, (1.79 is a good price for a song in my opinion) I'm over the moon! The pricing is so much better now on hardware, I'm totally thrilled. |
|
report abuse
vote down
vote up
|
a guest
said:
|
I have been told that the new Apple NZ Store (www.apple.co.nz/store) prices are directly comparable to the US prices (exchange rate x%). This is great, not least because I hope it means that Apple now recognize us as a market in our own right instead of going through a distributor i.e. Renaissance, or Apple Australia first. Can anyone confirm this? When it comes to the NZ iTunes Music Store though, this is how the maths looks to me... 1 tune in US costs 99c 99c x 1.163 (current exchange rate) = NZ$1.15 10% = $1.26 Actual cost in NZ per tune $1.79 (ripoff?) |
|
report abuse
vote down
vote up
|
a guest
said:
|
Hi Bart You might try that calculation again with real numbers. The exchange rate for US$1 is more like NZ$1.63 not $1.163 The GST rate is 12.5 %, not 10% so 99c x 1.63 = NZ1.63 plus GST it's NZ$1.82 (not such a rip off?) |
|
report abuse
vote down
vote up
|
bart hanson
said:
|
I stand corrected, bad maths, sorry. My Calculator Widget tells me that US99?´®¢ currently equals NZ$1.437 $1.44 plus 12.5% (x 1.125) equals $1.62 Still well short of the $1.79 being charged per tune. I also think that while Renaissance/NZ Apple Store have gone half-way with tying the NZ prices to the US equivalent, I would like to see Apple ITSELF to have a presence in NZ. A real live bricks and mortar Apple Store? Bart Hanson. |
|
report abuse
vote down
vote up
|
Show/Hide comment form
