[scottjl]

actually it is.. Manan who wrote the email complains that the list prices for the iPad are $150 more in Europe than the list prices in the US. What he fails to take into account (which Steve points out) is the list prices in Europe include the VAT where the list prices in the US do not.

it is difficult to post a list price for an item in the US when you are selling nation wide because there is no federal sales tax and each state has a different state tax amount. for example new york state has a 4% state tax on luxury goods and no sales tax on food items. deleware has no sales tax at all. pennsylvania has a 6% sales tax on luxury items. illinois has a 6.25% sales tax on luxury items and a 1% sales tax on food items (not that i'd recommend eating your iPad).

so what would apple do? post an ad stating:

$499 in delaware
$519 in new york
$529 in pennsylvania
$531 in illinois
...and so on and so on..?

that would just be silly. besides americans aren't used to prices being listed like that, and quite often some people drive across the state border to purchase high-ticket items to avoid sales taxes (though that technically is illegal if they don't claim the item and pay the appropriate tax when they return to their home state). the drive from philadelphia to christiana mall in delaware is less than a hour. is it worth it to save $30? probably not because you'll spend that in gas, but it might be to save $100 or more on that new 17" macbook you want to buy.

so jobs points out to the uneducated emailer that he isn't really comparing after-tax prices which is what he should be. then he wouldn't find the mark-up quite so much. (he also doesn't account for the higher shipping costs to europe.)