UK, Europe priciest places to buy an iPad

Britain and Europe are the world's priciest places to buy Apple's new iPad computer, with prices around a quarter higher than in the United States, a new study has found.

While the tablets, of which Apple said Monday it had sold two million, should trade at broadly the same price globally if exchange rates were properly adjusting, Australia's CommSec iPad Index found big savings for Europeans traveling to Asia and the US.

"In the UK, Germany, France and Italy, an iPad costs 20-25 percent more than in the US," said Craig James, chief economist at the CommSec share trading division of Australia's Commonwealth Bank.

Prices for the WiFi-only version range from $499 in the US to the equivalent of $620 in Britain for the 16 gigabyte model. At the top end, an iPad 64GB model with WiFi and 3G connectivity costs $829 in the US against $1,010 in Britain and $980 in Germany, France and Italy.

The tablet device, CommSec said, is identical across the globe so theoretically the only difference in pricing should be freight charges and local taxes.

But national debt woes in Europe and Britain have rocked the euro and pound in recent months, throwing global currencies into turmoil.

"More generally, the CommSec iPad and CommSec iPod indexes suggest the US dollar needs to lift against major currencies, but more so against the euro and pound sterling," James said.

Source: Global Times