| SlorgNet said: I was assuming 599EUR and 399EUR as a baseline, i.e. excluding VAT (which can be as high as 20% in some countries, I think - correct me if I'm wrong). But Sony has cost-reduced the heck out of the PS3, moving through at least two significant changes in the motherboard, according to Nikkei Electronics Weekly. Electronic components drop in price about 30% a year, so if the PS3 originally cost $800 to make, it shouldn't cost more than $560 to make by November. Last but not least, the Chinese yuan has fallen about 6% versus the euro over the past 12 months, so that's another cost savings for Sony (most of the PS3 is made in China) - the equivalent of 36EUR. A 399EUR model plus a 20% VAT and 5% fees would come out to a grand total of 499EUR, so maybe that's what European shoppers will see in October. We'll just have to see... |
Now I see what the misunderstanding is ;) When people talk about European prices, they're always including VAT on them. In most (or all I think) European countries it's illegal to report prices without including VAT. So when you see 599 € (current PS3 price), that's including VAT.
VAT varies by country, but the difference is absorbed by whoever is selling/making the product if they want to have the same price in all countries.
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