Apple has begun offering China refurbished iPods and iMacs, but at prices higher than U.S. retail prices, according to reports Monday.
In one example, a 2.8 GHz iMac discounted by 12 percent to $2,059 is still priced higher than the U.S. pre-sales tax $1,799.
While only 0.25 percent of the huge China market, the Asian giant helped Apple increase third-quarter sales by 49 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Apple’s slim market share in China is due to its high prices. Research firm IDC called China a “niche market” for Apple.
Apple opened its first retail outlet in China last year.
In related news, electronics retailer Best Buy launched a discount of up to $100 for ‘Reward Zone’ members. The discount, available through February 28, reduces the $199 8GB iPhone and 16GB iPhone version to $99 and $199, respectively. Regular Reward Zone members would receive a $50 discount on the handsets regularly priced at $199 and $249.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
