Apple stores are coming to Germany

So Apple is apparently coming to town.

Apple Insider reports:


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As the Nano I just bought 14 months ago has quit working and the cost for repairing is about the same as a new one (so the store told me) and the Apple 1 year warrenty is over I will not buy another one I think.

Anyone else had problems with Apple Ipod's? And why do they haev a one year warrenty and not the standard two year warranty like other electronics sold in Germany?

I thought the 2 year waranty was law now. I'm sure it came in 2002. Did you actually buy it in Germany?

Yep. If bought here there is a 2 year warranty. Despite anything a salesman may say.

While on this topic, i just ran into the following motto on Apple website:

Go beyond Vista. It's time to get a Mac

I would have never thought of such a direct criticism of Microsoft by Apple.

I have an early iPod mini that's never had problems, but it gets very little use.

Here's a website for fixing your iPod yourself, if it truly is out of warranty.

in spite of the fact that my last ipod died at around 2 years...i decided I really couldn't live without one... I just got a new nano...
I decided that I could do every 2 years if i use the approach that it's not going to last very long and just get the least expensive one...(i typically buy for the long haul)...

most of my friends who have them, though, told me that theirs all made it to about 2 years too!

Actually the accepted life of electronics goods is 5 years, at least in the UK, and probably the whole of the EU. You can insist on repairs for a reduced fee until that time is up, although it could be an exercise in persistence.

I have an original iPod from 2002 (before the dock was invented) which is still working fine, though it loses its charge after about 4 days. It did stop working one time when I was in the U.K., but by the time I got back to Germany it was OK again - don't know why.

Got mine in 2003, within 6 months the battery was acting up, I'd charge it and get 20 mins playtime off it. Hallowe'en 2005 it just died, the display has the file with exclamation mark and nowt else. For something that looks that good and costs that much, it's not been very reliable. I did install Linux on it to play Doom but surely that, no, darn, nothing to do with its demise whatsoever. Probably just needs a new harddisk. I'll try that fix-it-yourself site then Freiheit, thanks for the link, it looks good.

There is already an Apple store on Barerstrasse, just above Schellingstrasse and close to where the Arc is. Sure it is just a tiny one but you can buy lots of Apple acoutrements. If they don't have it they can order it. (like the arm band for the 30 gig- they only had them for the small ones)

I was just in the Apple superstores in Los Angeles and they had everthing on the shelves as well as several helpful employees ready to talk you through the workings of the Mac if you like or the choices of extras you could add on to your sale. The little store on Barerstrasse had only one guy behind the counter and he seemed more interested in telling me what he didn't have in the store than what he did have.

I'm sure the big Apple stores will have many helpful employees to walk us through any questions. And I would hope that they would sell computers with English operating systems as well as German but that seems like a pipe dream.

There are a number of stores in Munich that carry Apple stuff or even carry only Apple products, but none are Apple-owned stores. The best one to my knowledge is Gravis on Sendlingerstr. They have the full line of laptops and desktops on display along with a good selection of Apple and 3rd-party accessories.

The only good thing about Apple itself opening a store will be for warranty service, because you know the prices will not be any lower there.

Ipods have always been expensive crap. You can get MP3 players from other makers with greater storage space cheaper.
You also don't get locked into iTunes. Some of these players even look and act like an iPod..

I don't see why it should be, you can order them with English operating sytems through their online shop, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem for them to do it from a real shop.

OS X, whether preinstalled or in a retail box, will ask you what langauge you want on your machine. I bought an iMac from Gravis and just picked English on the 1st boot.

If you order from Apple Store online you can also choose to have a QWERTY keyboard factory installed, which is what I did.

Are coming? There´s been one here for a while.

An Apple store from Apple like this one...

Yep. Apparently, Jobs will announce the opening of 3 new Apple stores (Munich, Barcelona and Paris) today at the WWDC keynote (which starts at 10am PDT). No wonder there were so many Apple ads over the Rosenstrasse site.

i like my iPod mini, even though Borat says it's for girlz.

i will buy another iPod to replace it when it dies. you gotta look at 'em like hamsters: if it lasts beyond two years you're doing well, and basically useless beyond having something that even a child can care for.

Why are macbooks so expensive here? A black macbook set me back $1500 in the US; made sure to buy it in the US because the price in Germany is 1500 EUR...

Actually, with taxes, the bill was more like $1600, but even so, it was a lot cheaper to buy in the US. (1500 EUR = about $2025, I saved over 400$ by simply buying in the US)

Is it because of the German keyboard maybe being less common and more expensive to produce? Probably not...

Its not just Macbooks that are like this. When something is released in the US for $500, it's released here for 500 euros. Its always cheaper to buy such things in the states when the exchange rate is better than 1:1.

Here are some pics of the construction in Munich of the Apple store...

hi krostitzer, .. you must want a lot of extras for your book and does it have to be in black thats 200 (euros) more just because of the colour, .. mine cost around 1500 and yes its white, but I did not just buy the book I brought a lot of extras/size of the screen/memory space. The keyboard is something else, I ordered an 'american' keyboard not a german one through the internet. The mac book came from Ireland. (?)

A better exchange in usa? I have just converted $1500 to euro and this is what I get 1,122.167 euro.. euro looks better,.. are you a freelancer here you can claim the taxes back,..

kate

Got myself one of the U2 video ipods when I was back in the states this spring. Really couldnt afford it but got it anyway and LOVE IT!!! Probably one of the best purchases I've made these last few years.

I used to have an IRiver MP3 and was quite satisfied with it when I had it, but now that I have the U2 video ipod, cant imagine going back to one of the smaller ones.

KateTV- Basic Black macbook, 2ghz single processor, and a gig of ram. The price was $1500 in the US (plus 7% tax = about $1600), and 1500 EUR from apple.de. I can write it off on my American taxes as well. So how is it a better deal to buy in Euros?

I know it's extra for black. But when I saw it, I couldn't refuse as I've been wishing for such a design for years.

I am buying one when I am in the States in August from these folk.

yes you are right, .. I was thinking how one converts the money not that the price remains the same..

I am trying at the moment to look for my bill so I could say what I had brought, instead apple page.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebO...macbook/macbook

(someone else did), - I put it together and we added mouse/anti-virus/speakers/80GB/ and a bag to transport it in/and yes my macbook is white.
White or Black coloured laptops ? both a cool, just love the apple on the front of computer - it must be love.

kate

OK so there are still no "official" apple stores in berlin.. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good place to check out / buy apple stuff in the mitte/prenzl area?

I need to get an airport extreme, mediamarkt doesn't have it..

and ... i would appreciate any recommendations/warnings on which external hard drives are the most dependable and fast, that are mac/pc compatable. Does not have to be portable. Somewhere in the 1TB range of storage.

German Apple Store

The Airport Extreme Base station will set you back 180 Eur + Tax/Shipping - Link

The same thing will cost you $180 USD from the US Store - Link
Which with the exchange rate would be around 121 Eur

Why not just buy any Wireless router? There are plenty of them in different speeds and sizes. They are all compatible with everything. And some great prices too!

Yeah, Ian, I'm down for that, not so partial to the more expensive apple stuff, just so it works with both platforms. Can you take any wireless router and use it as a dsl input as well as hook up a hard drive to it with usb? Any recommendations on a wireless router that does this?

@DK - thx for the link... besides drinking beer on the beach with friends, shopping for electronics (and levis) is maybe the best reason to go back and visit

The new Munich Apple Store is looking for employees, for any interested Macophiles out there...
Job Openings