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PlayStation 3 Still Set For March in EU, Price Revealed
Despite an accidental slip-up on the part of Sony CEO Howard Stringer, the PlayStation 3 is set for launch in the EU this March. When it does launch, folks in the UK and Ireland will be paying a pretty penny for Sony's new console. From the article: "Sony has confirmed ... that the 60GB PS3 will cost EUR 629.99 in Ireland, as suggested on the official website. 'Ireland is traditionally more expensive than other territories,' a spokesperson explained. 'The VAT rate there is 21 per cent, whereas it can be as low as 16 per cent in other EU countries.' However, the spokesperson continued, the PS3 will still cost EUR 599 if you're buying it elsewhere in Europe. Of course, here in Britain we're still using the funny old money with the picture of the rich lady on it, so we'll get a price point all of our own. And according to our old friend Senior Retail Sources, that price point will be set at GBP 425."
Heck, they could launch it in Europe this month -- just ship 'em all the unsold PS3's here.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Well, with the price point set so high in Europe, I know that the exchange rate will help Sony and keep it from losing quite so much money per PS3. However, it may be way too high in general from a consumer's perspective (after all, average spending power in the EU is altogether lower than in the US due to salaries being lower). So I'm not too optimistic about the number of units they'll actually be able to *sell* at that price. Far fewer than Wii's, that much I'm certain about.
I like basketball!!1!
Holy crap... That better be one awesome game machine.
Google marks the EU (not counting Ireland) price as about $770 and the UK price as $834. Like, damn. Am I the only one who thinks you'd have to be insane to spend that on a console? And I thought it was bad back when they announced the U.S. prices...
Unpleasantries.
The thing about the European prices compared to the US prices is that in the US we don't include tax in the stated price, in Europe the opposite is true. The price listed is what you actually pay at the register, as opposed to the US where you have to add on state tax (unless you're buying online, and even then you're supposed to pay your state for the purchase later (although nobody does this)).
Factoring out the tax we see that the PS3 is right around 500 to 520 euros or so, which puts it around US$650, which is a fairly modest markup of about US$50 or about 8% or so.
I read the internet for the articles.
The US prices are generally listed without tax. However, our sales tax rates are generally far less than 22%. I think the highest sales tax rates are usually 8-9%, and there are still several states that have no sales tax at all.
You guys are complaining about nothing. Here're the official Brazilian price points for current generation consoles, in US dollars, if you want to avoid smugglers and prefer sticking to the letter of the law:
Sadly, none of the above are typos. And it's even more maddening when you consider most Brazilians earn half USA's minimum wage... :(
Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
Now the Europeans can watch the console sit unsold on store shelves too!
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Troll. Mod me as troll please.
End of conversation.
Sorry to disappoint you... but it's a PS3.