Source: The register If Apple is unconcerned about the grey market for the iPhone, the company appears very concerned about its other products which are sometimes imported via the parallel market in Europe.
The company has ordered 11 English dealers to cease importing iPods directly from the United States and provide all information about companies helping them .
These companies, taking advantage of historically low rates of the dollar, sell ipods below the recommended retail price in Europe.
The calculation is easy to do. Take for example a 32 GB iPod Touch sold for 469€ (and private copying fee is included). Imported from the U.S. on the parallel market, it could be sold including all taxes for nearly 50€ cheaper, or a reduction of over 10%. And in this case, we left the dealer a margin much higher than Apple would let him take.
The situation is very tempting for retailers, even if they risk of upsetting Apple.
And we know from confidential sources that many dealers did not deny themselves this opportunity, doing so with great discretion by importing a small percentage of their turnover using this method, which brings them a tidy profit.
[translation by jeremy]
