We’re actively building the infrastructure to launch in additional countries. It’s a challenging logistical environment at the moment, but we very much built and certified the product to be broadly available, and we are reminded of the interest in that daily!
I'd like to give a huge shout out to nrp, founder of Framework, for being super active on the Framework community forum, here on HN and I assume in 10 other places, answering questions, helping with debugging issues down to nitty gritty technical details.
For a founder, this is very unusual because there is an entire business to take care of and yet he finds time for all the above as well.
They are also seemingly burning the midnight oil getting shipments out the door on time with no significant schedule delays. I have one on the way that was shipped out and picked up quite late in the night.
Since you are gathering community interest here, may I ask if there are plans or non-plans for a FrameWork laptop with power efficient Ryzen 5000 series CPUs?
I don't need a laptop right now, but, I will prepone my plans and buy one right away if it existed.
I'm already happy that you're participating in this thread, so don't let my question pin you down too much, but are you able to give some indication of when you might be able to share news like a provisional timeline?
They shared an update on the Europe situation via newsletter:
> "With our supply improving, you may be wondering when you can order a laptop if you're outside of the U.S and Canada. We selected and are bringing up our worldwide warehousing and fulfillment partner, which is one very key part of the equation, but it takes quite a lot more than that to enable a complete experience in each country. Picking Germany as one example, we need German language keyboards, a Type F power cable, in-box paperwork and labeling in German, localization for the Framework website, support documentation, and checkout flow, support for local payment methods, calculation of Euro prices and taxes, accounting support for German income, creation of legally sound Terms of Sale, Privacy, and Warranty policies for Germany, CE certifications, a local Authorized Representative to back up the certifications, determination of HS codes and tariffs, an Importer of Record to be able to deliver duty paid, German-language in-time-zone customer support, reverse logistics and RMA support for returns and repairs, region-specific sourcing of off the shelf memory and storage, trial builds of German laptops prior to production, and back-end ERP infrastructure to tie all of this together. That sounds like a lot, but it's actually a drastically simplified summary. Supply and logistics crunches slowed down parts of it, but we are moving forward on all fronts. We'll open pre-ordering in the next few countries before the end of the year for shipment in early 2022. We'll share the exact month of shipment at the time we open pre-orders."
Yea, say what you want about Apple, but they seem to be one of the few tech companies that manage to ship all their products in all their configurations to almost all countries.
So many times I read a review for something interesting sounding only to find out that that version isn't sold where I happen to live.
Yeah, but Apple also charges a hefty premium outside the US. Just look at the prices of Apple products in the US and the EU, and then compare with Samsung/Google/OnePlus.
Whatever makes Apple products more expensive in the EU doesn't appear to apply to anyone else.
But surely Apple and Samsung pay the same VAT, so a Samsung phone that costs $900 should sell for more than an iPhone that costs $800 if it was only VAT. Except that doesn't happen. The $800 iPhone costs the same (or more) as the $900 Samsung in Europe. Apple's relative markup compared to Samsung is much higher in Europe than in the US.
Something I've noticed a lot with tech products is that they "cost the same" (in number value) in USD as well as Euros or GBP, which actually makes them cheaper in the US. Take for example, the Awair Element air quality meter:
- Ordering in the US: USD$299[0] (~￡224)
- Ordering in the UK: GBP￡299[1] (~$360 USD at the time of writing)
Even including 20% VAT in UK it should only cost around ￡270 by my calculations. Is shipping really that expensive? I find similar issues buying things online in Australia (and that's before expensive shipping, duty, import GST, etc.)
Maybe it's related to the warranty? Apple sells AppleCare separately, but it's basically a warranty that's already guaranteed under EU consumer law. So in the EU they should factor this into the price.
You're right, for most EU countries it's indeed 2 years.
> The Directive offers a 2-year legal guarantee of conformity, from the date that the item was delivered to the consumer. Most countries have implemented a 2-year guarantee of conformity but six countries apply a longer duration, with 4 of them taking into account the expected lifespan of the product.
It depends a bit though. Usually the first mandatory year is manufacturer warranty and the second and further years (where applicable) seller warranty only. So Apple is only on the hook for this if you bought from them and even then the burden of proof is on the consumer.
Nope. Here in Ireland where they have major offices not only is there no Apple retail but they only offer the Aluminium versions of Apple Watch. Currently no providers offer eSIM for Apple Watch but that shouldn’t stop me buying a better screen.
