Apple has a weird knowledge of geography.
You won’t find Ukraine on its version of the world map. Until this spring you couldn’t even buy a legal iPhone or iPad in Ukraine.
You can now. A number of computer shops claim to be selling Apple gadgets absolutely legally. For example you can buy iPads in Moyo and Comfy retail stores in Kyiv.
For many people this might sound like great news. But there are few issues potential buyers should be aware of.
First of all, Apple still knows nothing about Ukraine. When retail companies claim they sell Apple products legally, it means only that this isn’t a “shadow market” import. They are just buying them from legal Apple partners abroad.
The main thing that shows that Apple doesn’t care about Ukraine is the fact that the iTunes online store is almost impossible to use from Ukraine.
You can’t register in iTunes if you select Ukraine as your country, and you have to pick some other country. And you can’t pay for apps with your Ukrainian credit cards (though some people have been lucky enough to use Ukrainian cards with their Russian accounts in iTunes).
The second issue is pricing. In the U.S., you can buy the unlocked iPhone 4 with 16 GB of memory for $649. That’s roughly Hr 5,200.
The cheapest option for the same model “legally” sold in Ukraine is around Hr 6,200 ($775).
As for the iPad, the story is even more terrifying. In the U.S., you pay only $499 for the simplest iPad (WiFi version without 3G support). In Ukraine, you will have to pay at least Hr 5,000 for it. That’s about $675.
The most expensive 3G model with 64GB of memory will cost $829 in the U.S. In Ukraine, you’ll have to part with Hr 9,000 ($1,125).
Ukraine still means nothing to Apple. If you are not offended and still want to buy some of Steve Jobs’ offerings, you are better off doing it in the U.S. There is no reason to pay extra money for being neglected.
Kyiv Post staff writer Alexey Bondarev can be reached at [email protected].
