Russia’s Federal Customs Service (FCS) has cancelled a 5% duty on iPads, having reclassified them as computers.
According to Vedomosti, they were previously categorised as ‘navigators’, and other tablets, which have GPS modules, will remain so.
The move is likely to boost the sale of iPads in Russia, the cheapest versions of which cost at least R20,000 (€516.1), compared to around R15,000 for Android tablets.
Research undertaken by Canalys shows that as Q3 2011 some 540,000 tablets had been sold in Russia, and of these 56% were iPads.
