Apple's Watch, MacBook, iPhone vs the wild Australian currency Alex Kidman ABC Technology and Games 10 Mar 2015

A price that rivals Rolex is extraordinary for a device that could be obsolete within a year. But it's not suprising considering Apple is consuming one-third of the world's gold supply in order to make it.

It's not normally the case with Apple product launches that the big thing to talk about is pricing. That's usually just a line item at the end of a story because it's usually of interest only to those planning on making a technology purchase. Still in the case of Apple's "Spring Forward" event, it's the pricing, especially for Australia that really is the story.

That's because the highlight of the event was Apple finally announcing availability and pricing for its own smartwatch, the Apple Watch. No, I don't pick the names, and I've no idea what they'll call the seemingly-inevitable model they'll release in 2016. Presumably the Apple Watch 2, although if nobody at Apple has thought of that just yet, I'm willing to let the name go for a reasonable price.

There I go, heading back to price, but then again, Apple announced the Apple Watch months ago. Today they did show off some of the other things you may be able to do with it, and undeniably the ecosystem is going to be a very important part of the Apple Watch's success.

I've been around enough smartwatches that I can't get excited, as Apple's in-house audience was, by a simple notification. I've also tested enough not to quite buy Apple CEO Tim Cook's assertion that 18 hours of battery life for the Apple Watch "works for most people I think." It's not unusual for a colour screen watch to have limited battery life, because there's only so much space for batteries to go in, but less than a day on a watch is a worrying prospect. Leave the charger in the wrong space, and your shiny new Apple Watch is now just a decorative band.

Which is not to say that Apple had zero interesting announcements to make. They announced ResearchKit, an adjunct to the existing HealthKit that should allow medical professionals to use opted-in iPhone owners as simple research participants. Apple showed off some genuinely interesting applications designed to track medical data of patients with Parkinson's, Breast Cancer and other ailments. It's a good example of where Apple can use existing technology in interesting and human ways, and it's certainly laudable.

There was another surprise in store for the audience for Apple latest product launch when Tim Cook came out on stage with a gold 12-inch MacBook. Not that the pundits hadn't picked that a 12-inch Macbook was coming, but the colour, style and thin nature of the new laptop were unknown factors. The new MacBook doesn't supplant the existing Macbook Air or MacBook Pro lines, both of which also got minor technology upgrades this morning as well.

If there's a constant stick that Apple gets hit with in Australia it's the argument that it's at the forefront of the "Australia tax" that politicians - most notably Labor's Ed Husic - rail against. The idea of the Australia tax is that we as Australians pay too much for IT goods and services in what is meant to be a global economy. There's plenty of evidence of this, and Apple certainly isn't above adding a little extra to its prices, although it's a practice that it's largely curbed in recent years outside of the entertainment it sells through iTunes. Apple's argument there is that it's the entertainment companies - record labels and movie studios - setting the prices, and there is some validity to that argument. When it comes to Apple hardware, however, Apple is in charge of setting pricing.

So what then of the Apple Watch and new MacBook? Apple's US pricing for the new MacBook models is pretty simple at US$1299 and US$1599 respectively. In Australia, they'll cost $1799 and $2199.

At first glance, it may appear that Apple is up to its old tricks, but the two factors to take into consideration here are the fact that Apple, and every other US tech vendor, never lists prices with sales tax included, because it varies from state to state.

Here in Australia we've got GST, so you need to add 10 per cent to those US prices to get equivalency. Do that, and you've then got to adjust for the collapsing Australian dollar. To use the entry-level MacBook as an example, it's $US1299 + $129.90 (GST) for a total of US$1428.90. At today's exchange rate, which you wouldn't get without a commission, that comes to $1853.67. In other words, that entry-level MacBook is actually slightly cheaper here than it is in the States once tax is taken into consideration.

What about the Apple Watch? There it's much the same story, although the pricing is more complex because there are three tiers of watches to account for. The entry-level Apple Watch Sport is the simplest, coming in at US$349 or US$399 depending on band size. Australia will be one of the launch countries for the Apple Watch and the Apple Watch Sport will cost $499/$579. Again, do the conversion plus tax, and it's essentially in line. The next Apple Watch tier is the type with a stainless steel band, simply called the "Apple Watch." That particular watch is going to come in 20 different band variants, varying in price from US$549 - US$1049.

In Australian terms, that'll be $799 to $1629, which again stacks up neatly with a proper conversion. Finally, there is the exclusive Apple Watch Edition which is Apple's premium line. How premium I hear you ask? The entry-level model there starts at a cool US$10,000 per watch. In Australia, the entry-level starts at $14,000, which again equates out, all the way up to $24,000 for the very top tier Apple Watch Edition Apple Watch.

I could see some folk trying to buy an Apple Watch Edition in the States to dodge the tax that way, because 10 per cent of $24,000 is a serious chunk of change. Don't tell the taxman I suggested that, though. Mind you, if you can afford a $24,000 watch, something tells me you can probably afford a good, or possibly evil, tax lawyer.

There's a dark side to all this currency conversion malarkey, however, if you're an iPhone fan. Long term Apple fans are well aware of the phenomenon of the Apple Store online going offline during Apple launches, because there are new shiny toys coming soon, and they all need pricing pages updated on a worldwide basis.

Apple also did something it hasn't done for a long time while the Apple Store Australia was down, and that was to adjust the pricing on an existing product line. That's not unheard of, but it's been a long while since an Apple product significantly shifted price because of a currency fluctuation. Still, that's what's happened with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

If you've been hanging out for a new iPhone and think I'm about to say that they're now cheaper, then I've got some bad news for you. It's presumably a function of the weak Australian dollar, but as of this morning, the iPhone 6 has gone from a pricing basis of $869/$999/$1129 depending on capacity to one of $999/$1149/$1299. Likewise, the iPhone 6 Plus, which was selling for $999/$1129/$1249 now runs to $1149/$1299/$1449.

Or in other words, ouch. If you're still keen on an outright iPhone, it'd be wise to head for a non-Apple retailer today to see if they still have stock at the "old" prices. On the upside, the value of an iPhone 6/Plus on a contract just went up, unless the telcos follow suit with their iPhone plans.

Alex Kidman is a freelance technology writer; follow him on Twitter @alexkidman.