Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Asia is pretty cheap, Europe is expensive, but US is very cheap when it comes to tech. Why so cheap?

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Could you give some examples? Tech is a broad term.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

I'm talking about mobile devices here, but also computers.

But lets take a look at Google Nexus 4 an example since that is a new device.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nex...ive,18908.html

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

That's because the rest of the world pays its bills while the US chooses to live in a debt bubble indefinitely...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

because we have tax on stuff.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Isn't the Nexus 4 subsidized by Google to help (a struggling Android device manufacturer) LG?

^ I could be totally wrong

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Tax is not the whole story...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Competition is fierce in the U.S of A

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

If the price is almost double or at least 1/3 more expensive in Europe. wouldn't that make the competition much harder with several more operators and vendors?

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

feels like it to me, usually itd cost 1/5 less for stuff, shame newegg doesnt deliver to the UK otherwise my computer would of been so much cheaper.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

You can buy nexus 4 in us for about $300-350 and in about 450-550 Eur. That can't be all tax. It's fishy

(depending on memory size)

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

...low or no import duties (especially from Asia)?

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Consumer electronics may get quite cheap in the US during sales (a friend bought an Ultrabook for half-price during Thanksgiving!), but from what I've seen (from my relatives in the US), stuff's generally cheaper in East Asia, except for computer components.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

When the PS3 came out, it (famously) cost 599 USD. In Europe it cost 599 EUR, which was around 800 USD at the time.

Everyone just thought of it as a rip-off, but to be honest, the USofA average income truly is lower than that of the EU...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

It is cheaper than most European Countries, but East Asia is cheapest due to tax rates of ~5-10%. It is also because alot of tech is assembled there so its cheaper to ship it.

US tax rates vary by state, but look to be about 8-16%.

Most European countries are between 20 and 25%, bar a few smaller ones.

Then ofcourse we have the currency fluctuations and the good old US still trying to pretend the Dollar is what it used to be...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Competition is a big factor too. Competition breeds pressure on gov to reduce taxes and tariffs. And businesses rule gov in US, not the other way around. Plus, to sell to large number of,people and move volume, you need it to be relatively cheap.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

The stuff about East Asia being cheapest doesn't seem true for Thailand/Bangkok. I've never seen stuff being more expensive than in Germany before (@Siam Paragon). (ok maybe France and UK, but that's EU..)

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Bangkok has the cheapest Nikon lenses you can find along with Singapore... Siam Paragon is one of the largest shopping centres so of course its going to be expensive; tourists end up there so they jack up the prices + rentals are very high in there... Oh also Siam Paragon is deliberately a luxury goods mall so how can you get good prices there :p

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

well add on tax and it would be £258, then add on delivery it would be £268, not far of Google's price of £279

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

It's a result of a basic economic principle called price discrimination. Companies will extract as much consumer surplus as possible. In other words, get the consumer to pay the absolute maximum they're willing to pay. Tech is expensive here in Australia - if you look at our minimum wage here it's much higher than what you get in the states

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

No VAT which in some cases in europe is at 25%

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Maybe bcoz USA faces frequent alien invasions? :p

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Alien dalvik...

Would buy a device per month if I could buy with US prices. Luckely for me it's more expensive around the globe since we don't even get 12 great devices per year. Max 4-5 great devices. I really like to see a big screen device with keyboard soon. Who can deliver innovation 2013.my bet? Samsung.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Anyone tried www.myus.com?

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

VAT, and the fact that in the EU the government mandated warranties have to factor in on prices.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

EU in general has:

-Lot higher consumption taxes (VAT)
-Better consumer protection & warranties
-Higher minium wages
-Longer holidays, better labour protection, more rights for trade unions, etc.

All of the above increase prices. All also tend to make possible the kind of public services and labour rights that americans don't have. Not to make this too political, but (IMHO) it's a price worth paying.

Besides, your examples are from phones and you are forgetting that american tend to pay quite a bit more for quite a bit worse connections to those phones.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Whats the price for data in US?

Free data plan - Price?
5 GB data plan- Price?
1 GB data plan - Price?

Is this where the hidden amount can be found. The operators transfer money to the vendors.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

In Europe we have something called class. With class comes the ability to pay the bill. In the US people are either dirt poor or filthy rich, but there is no class. So for the dirt poor people to be able to pay and feel happy, devices are cheap. And because the rich people have no idea what class is, they feel even richer because everything is dirt cheap.

This is the truth, its told by the king of TMO :)

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

It's cheap in the US because we'd sue them. It's that simple.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

I'd suggest working & living in EU and buying (often) in US ;) Works for me...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

You can't use the nexus as an example, google are selling them with almost no if any profit since it doesn't need to sell hardware. Google makes its money elsewhere, but companies like samsung and nokia are pretty much hardware companies.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

I can give you a non-exhaustive list of why things are so expensive in the UK:

Import duties calculated as a percentage of cost of goods + freight.
High transportation costs as a result of exorbitant duties levied on diesel.
Exorbitant business rates charged on commercial premises by local authorities.
Exorbitant Employer's National Insurance calculated on the basis of each of your employee's salary.
Exorbitant Class 1A National Insurance on any 'perks' you provide for your employees.
Exorbitant rate of VAT charged on sales value.
Exorbitant Corporation Tax payable on company profits.

At the end of the day it all boils down to the huge state. Somebody has to pay for the thousands upon thousands of public sector boondogglers with their flexi-time and fancy pension schemes.

Research done in the UK showed public sector workers were paid 30% more than somebody doing a similar job in the private sector, they worked 9 years less and then headed off into retirement with a pension a private sector worker could only dream of.

On top of the plethora of exorbitant taxes required to maintain the lavish lifestyles of the bloated public sector the European private sector has other handicaps imposed that reduce efficiency such as:

Absurd employment law - employing someone seems almost akin to adopting them, it's hard to get rid of them even if they turn out to be a worthless, lazy bludger.

EU beaurocracy - EC Sales Lists, Intrastat, Triangulation, etc... (it's actually easier for me to deal with the Far East or the USA than it is other EU member states).

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

BTW do you know what the UK's biggest export is?
It's fresh air - empty containers heading back to China to be refilled.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

well, you can't say, prices in Europe are in middle-range or something like that... have you ever travelled from e.g. Slovakia to Iceland or Switzerland?

Prices differ about 100% or 200%, much more than between US and Asia for example....

Companies make prices, depending on how much they can get from people, low prices in US means US people are pretty broke (like the whole country), sadly nothing else...

Edit: best example given: pharma industry, prices differ by 1000s of %

Edit2: ok, i stand corrected, maybe Slovakia these days was not the best example, but i guess, one can get, what i mean :)

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

No politics on TMO please.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

I doubt we have high duty rates from China, and since most of the stuff we get here is imported from China it helps keep the cost down. Not to mention the lower than usual value of our dollar. Competition is huge here with electronics in a big way, but also with retail product in general. We buy more stuff period. Lots that we don't even need. It is burned into our brains that novelties are necessities. We must have this new product whatever that is. Apple knows what they are doing by making a product that gets little to no change every year, but we all must have it because its the new I-this or the new I-that. Even if they release the I-phone 5.25 everyone will want it. And it will keep people extending their phone contracts every year to get the newest phone. Its even worse with the apple tablets making a smaller version called the mini which is a half of a half of a laptop. Who needs all of this stuff? Hell even the stupid infomercials we see that advertise crap products put an "I" in front of the product name because the target market sees the "I" as a familiar name meaning good product. It could even be an I-toilet. Companies know this. They have also adapted to lowering costs as well to be more competitive. The Samsung Galaxy SIII commercials went right out bashing the I-phone. It hilarious. You can get a galaxy SIII here for a hundred dollars with a new contract VS I-phone is around 300 dollars with contract. Samsung has the better deal obviously so it shows they want to compete here where we own a big majority of smartphones. Not just with phones but car makers here do the same damn thing. Every 4 to 5 years companies revamp the flagship model because they know the typical car loan here is 5 years. And when the car is paid off, its time to trade it in and get another 5 year car loan. The system is built to keep us in debt, but make it cheap enough so that we feel we are getting somewhere by all of our possessions. This isn't hitting the nail on the head fully, but it's just my observation. :D

P.S Microsoft has been spending a lot of money here advertising their new touchscreen computers and laptops too. And they don't really cost much here as well. I do see some lumia commercials a few times a week too.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

My lord. What a wall of text.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Why thank you :) Sorry everyone for the small rant. It can be deleted if everyone hates it haha.

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

Not necessarily, a company has the freedom to put in any price they like.. As long as there are different solutions for the consumer to choose from, otherwise it would be a monopoly...

Re: Why is tech so very cheap in US?
 

And your honour you quoted it verbatim :eek:


Your post makes sense, why delete it? Only paragraphing is required :D