The iDigital chain, one of the official iPhone importers in Israel, has decided to raise its prices only one and half weeks after the official launch, shortly after the customers and the press stopped comparing prices. The price hike varies between NIS 40 and NIS 100 on the models sold by the chain.
For example, the 16-gigabyte version of the iPhone 6, sold for NIS 3,690 at the launch, sold for NIS 3,769 today - a NIS 79 difference. The price of the same model in its 64 gigabyte version was raised from NIS 4,225 to NIS 4,295, a NIS 70 difference.
The iPhone 6 plus model has also become more expensive. The price of the 16-gigabyte model rose from NIS 4,225 to NIS 4,295, a NIS 70 difference. The price of the 64-gigabyte model rose from NIS 4,695 to NIS 4,799, a NIS 104 price hike.
From the very beginning of the sale of iPhones in Israel, iDigital was not satisfied with the prices. A few days before the launch, the company issued a press release with much higher prices, but when it saw that the market was falling in line with the lower prices, it had to adjust its price.
iDigital is now putting its prices back up, although still not to the full price at which it had planned to sell the iPhones. This means that the price of the 16-gigabyte version of the iPhone 6 could reach NIS 3,875 and the price of the iPhone 6 plus could reach NIS 4,475, as iDigital had originally planned to sell the devices.
While iDigital has raised its prices, another official iPhone importer in Israel, C-Data, stated in a talk with "Globes" that it had not raised its prices but mobile operator Pelephone Communications Ltd. has raised prices. For its part, the Rami Levy chain said that its prices were the same as at the launch: NIS 3,525 for an iPhone 6 and NIS 4,070 for an iPhone 6 plus. The price differences between iDigital and Rami Levy are therefore NIS 244 for an iPhone 6 and NIS 225 for an iPhone 6 plus.
There was no response from iDigital as of web posting. p>Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 2, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014