http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/ Engadget Comments for ViewSonic launches Atom-based computing line http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/

You might ask how I know this. Well, here it is. The MSRP is set to $429. What the sales people do when they introduce this device to the European market is that they drop the dollar sign and replace it with a euro sign and voilà! BIG profits and loads of green into someones already fat wallet while Europeans bleeds to the bone.

429€ converted to USD = $587.87 Coincidentally that sum converted back to Euro is 428.957. Go figure!

587.870 - 429 = $158.87 of pure extra profits.



1€ ≠ $1]]>Jan 8th 2009 6:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 8th 2009 7:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 9th 2009 7:54AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 8th 2009 8:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 8th 2009 9:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/
People nowadays are so hyped-up about having the "smartest" looking notebook, they start caring less about the functions anymore.

A lot of people would find this little guy very attractive, like business professionals for example (not that I am one). Personally I'd prefer a conservative looking notebook/netbook than a flashy one any day!]]>Jan 8th 2009 10:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 9th 2009 5:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/
http://portablemonkey.com/article/viewsonic-jumping-into-netbook-arena/

]]>Jan 9th 2009 2:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/Jan 9th 2009 5:37AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/08/viewsonic-launches-atom-based-computing-line/
Either you or I seem to have a misunderstanding of how taxes work in Europe and the United States. Let's assume for a minute that you live in Germany, which has a 19% VAT rate (on the standard-to-low end for the EU). From what I gather, most MSRP's in Europe include the, so the actual untaxed price is €429-€429(0.19)=€347.49 or $475.47 at the exchange rate you've given. In the United States sales tax is added at the till, so here the pretax price is in fact just $429. So the difference is actually $475.47-$429 = $46.47. There is still a markup, but you've overestimated the profit you think they are taking by over $100. What is left is a markup of 10% in Europe. While some of this may be pure profit, I'm not so sure it is - it might cost more to ship things from southeast Asia where they are made to Europe than to the US (I'm not an expert about this so I could be wrong) and some of it may be to protect them against a sudden drop in the Euro against the Dollar before the retail can be adjust. In any case, no one is forcing you to buy ViewSonic in Europe - so if you don't like the 10% markup, don't buy it. I've never cared for their stuff anyway.

(On another note, sometimes companies do drop the number a little bit before putting a € in front. So if they sold this for €399, the equivalent US pre-tax MSRP would be $442, or just $13 (3%) more at current exchange rates).]]>Jan 9th 2009 6:18PM