Re: Hmmm
As noted by others, sales tax/VAT makes up a lot of the difference between the US and UK prices. The rest is usually put down to "regionalization", which is generally assumed to be a piss take as we just get the american english version of the product rather than a UK-specific one. However, the regionalization costs are more attributable to covering the warranty requirements in each territory - the UK (and EU) generally have much stronger consumer rights law than the US, so the warranty liability is consequently much higher. On this basis, a 1:1 £:$ exchange rate for tech products isn't actually all that bad. There are still a few companies who routinely do take the piss by having even more unfavourable $:£ exchange rates for their products/services, but examples of this are fairly rare.
I generally take the line that comparing US and UK prices is pretty pointless, as it's too much a case of apples and oranges. Comparing EU and UK prices is perfectly sensible though, as both taxation rates and consumer protection law tend to be pretty similar between the two.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
