Apple raises prices in Japan after yen weakens

Apple has raised the price of iPad tablet computers and iPod music players in Japan after a weaker yen that's boosting importing costs prompted Toshiba and Fujitsu to consider increasing their prices.

Apple now sells the iPad Wi-fi model with 16 gigabytes of memory for 49,800 yen (HK$3,827), compared with its previous price of 42,800 yen, according to Apple's website. The iPod Shuffle music player now costs from 4,800 yen, compared with the previous starting price of 4,200 yen.

"We made some pricing adjustments due to changes in foreign exchange rates," Takashi Takabayashi, a spokesman for Apple in Japan, said yesterday. He declined to elaborate on the pricing changes.

The yen weakened beyond 101 against the US dollar earlier this month for the first time since April 2009 as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spearheads measures to drive down the currency and end deflation. Fujitsu, a Tokyo-based maker of personal computers, said this month that it plans to raise domestic prices. Toshiba said on May 8 that it may boost prices for televisions and PCs.

Japan's currency fell versus all of its major peers yesterday as data showing a decline in consumer prices added to the case for the Bank of Japan to step up its stimulus efforts. The yen was trading at 100.61 yesterday in Tokyo. It lost 0.3 per cent to 131.09 per euro, having declined 0.7 per cent since May 24.

The nation's consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 0.4 per cent in April from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said yesterday, compared with a 0.5 per cent drop the prior month. The inflation rate has not been above zero in the past year.