NZ's iPods among most expensive

New Zealanders are paying twice as much for their iPods on a comparative level as Americans, yet are getting less mileage out of them.

A random sampling of electronics retailers in five countries - New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom - shows that prices of Apple's MP3 player here do not stack up well with those overseas.

A 30-gigabyte iPod with video capability retails at local chains, such as Dick Smith Electronics and Harvey Norman, for about $529 or US$359. Best Buy in the United States, in comparison, sells the same product for US$313 (all taxes included).

Online retailer Amazon.com is even cheaper - the iPod sells for US$299, including taxes and shipping.

Price trends on the smaller 2GB iPod Nano are similar - about US$30 more here than in the US.

In basic prices New Zealand doesn't fare too poorly, ranking above Canada and the UK. But the difference becomes pronounced when standards of living are taken into account.

Of the five countries sampled, New Zealand has the lowest gross domestic product per capita - a general measure of prosperity per person - but also the second-cheapest consumer goods overall.

New Zealand's per-person monthly GDP is US$1958, compared with US$3133 in the US. That means an iPod purchase here accounts for 18 per cent of that monthly GDP, compared with 9 per cent in the US. By this measure, New Zealand has the most expensive iPods of the five countries.

Currency differences and economies of scale may explain some of the difference - the other four countries have higher populations and thus better sales volumes on all goods, not just iPods.

But New Zealand also ranks favourably in comparative prices of consumer goods, at 12th out of 30, according to statistics from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Of the sampled countries, only Canada ranks better at 11th, with the US, UK and Australia all having more expensive goods overall.

New Zealand is also the only country in the sample without an online iTunes store, which provides a big part of the iPod's functionality. The iTunes store allows iPod users to buy and legally download music and video, such as TV shows or music clips.

As such, Kiwis are limited to converting their CDs on to the iPods, or to downloading tracks illegally. Music downloaded from other legal sources in New Zealand, included Digirama and Coke Tunes, is digitally protected and will not play on iPods.

Video is even more limited - users have only free podcasts.

Australia was the last country in the sampling to get an iTunes store, in October. While it was widely expected that a New Zealand equivalent would piggy-back on the Australian opening, an iTunes store has yet to materialise here.

Apple would not comment on when - or even if - an iTunes store would open here. It is understood the company is having difficulty in negotiating music rights with record labels. Sony BMG, in particular, had held back the opening of stores in Japan and Australia, and the same is reportedly happening here.

Steve Ford, general manager of Apple's sole local distributor Renaissance, said his company bought all its products from Australia and tried to keep prices stable through currency fluctuations.

"Whatever the prices in the UK, Canada and the US, it has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the price that we put into place here in New Zealand," he said.

Ford said iPod prices should not reflect their functionality and disagreed that they should be lower here given the lack of an iTunes store.

"Not having the music store in New Zealand isn't inhibiting the sales of iPods at all."

Ford declined to say how many iPods had been sold here but estimated Apple's share of the MP3 player market here and in Australia at about 70 per cent.

Technology analysis firm IDC doesn't track the overall MP3 market here, but its counterpart in Australia estimates 2005 shipments of players there at 1.3 million. If New Zealand trends are similar, iPod sales would range between 156,000 and 182,000.

Apple's iPod has been a global sensation, with the company reporting sales of 14 million units in its most recent quarter. The device has propelled the company based in Cupertino, California to new heights, with its first-quarter profit doubling to US$565 million on a record revenue of US$5.75 billion.

The iPod is also largely responsible for igniting the digital music revolution. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry this week reported legal music downloads doubled in 2005 to 240 million (global revenue US$1.1 billion). The IFPC also boldly declared it was winning the battle against illegal downloaders.