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A few reasons, some mentioned and some not....
• The primary stumbling block is the actual contracts. Authors and publishers sign a contract which says "you can sell X in this country." So a publisher can't sell an international ebook edition without having the rights. And as rhadin pointed out, getting all those rights will be expensive.
• Believe it or not, there really is more to selling a book internationally than merely hanging your shingle on the web -- and more to what a publisher does than slap a price tag on a book. You have translations, local marketing, local taxes, issues of what will sell in one place and not another, and so forth. An expat audience is one thing, truly selling a book abroad is another.
• There are legit reasons for different prices in different areas. E.g. many countries have a VAT on ebooks, while some others (notably the US) does not. Or, a book that has to be translated and won't have a big print run has to recoup that cost.
• Ebooks are currently a miniscule part of the market, and the hype is far in advance of the reality. So, it doesn't make sense to overthrow every existing international trade law, ignore all local taxes, and disregard pretty much every contract out there because a tiny portion of buyers are inconvenienced. It sucks, but that's how things go sometimes when you are on the bleeding edge of technology.
And for those who think it's just "publisher greed," keep in mind that enforcing regional restrictions most likely involves overhead costs that far outweigh any additional price advantages.
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