Quote:
Originally Posted by kacir
Unfortunately, this price is "Normal" here in Europe for devices that DO sell here. Like, for example Sony T1. Sigh ...
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I'm in New Zealand. T1 goes for around US$180 (140Euro) here. I can get a refurbished NST off eBay from US for US$80-90 + US$20-40 shipping. 170Eur (plus shipping) is a price I'd only pay for a product that was demonstrably significantly superior to either -- not one that was arguably inferior.
While part of it is regional pricing/lack of strong local competition, I also suspect there's an economies of scale thing going. Where the main competition is PB (or similar), Sony et al can price at PB prices (and make some extra profit) -- where their main competition is other major players (as in the US), you see their full volume cost savings reflected in the prices.
Buying off the US there isn't a
major difference in prices between the major players, so I'm able to decide based upon features -- and like you I prefer the NST's buttons (slightly to the T1/622 setup,
majorly to no physical buttons at all).
I'm currently waiting to make my mind up between the NST, the new PAGEone HD (same 764 × 1024 screen as the iriver Story HD, but in what looks like a nicer package) and the soon-to-be-announced NOOK eInk (whose introduction has a reasonable possibility of depressing the NST's price even further).