Apple Halts Russian Online Sales On Back Of Ruble Collapse

It seems the Russian ruble collapse is affecting everyone, even tech giant Apple Inc. AAPL. The Russian Central Bank on Tuesday announced raising interest rates from 10.5 percent to 17 percent, creating a sort of minor panic in the global markets, following which the trading in ruble was halted in the forex markets.

Although there was no news or press release from Apple’s side, questions started raising when its Russian online store suddenly stopped functioning. CNBC's Josh Lipton contacted Apple and reported on why the company stopped selling products online in Russia, while Brian Sullivan provided his perspective on it.

"If you go to the Apple Russia online store right now, maybe you were looking to make some purchases, yo're out of luck. You're going to be confronted with a screen that just says "We'll be back." So, what's going on there? Well, Apple has just now given me a comment saying due to extreme fluctuations in the value of the ruble, our online store in Russia is currently unavailable, while we review pricing, we apologize to customers for any inconvenience," Lipton said.

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Sullivan added to that saying, "Interesting stuff there, especially because the ruble has been halted today, so, Russia obviously impacting online sales because if you can’t know what your conversion rate is going to be, you're not going to sell an iPhone because it could be worth 12 percent more or less the next day."

Considering that the holiday season is on, the temporary suspension of online sale in Russia might affect Apple, although not in any significant way.

BBC reported that, "Apple last month increased its prices in Russia by 20% after the weakening rouble left products in the country cheaper than in the rest of Europe."

Posted In: CNBCForexMarketsMediaBrian SullivanJosh LiptonRubleRussia
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