N900 is available as preorder on both Nokia Germany and USA.

The prices are respectively €599 and $649 (= €441 at today's change).

As long as we have this disparity in prices on different markets, they forget my money.

There is 100EUR of Mwst in that German price and a 60$ headset in the other, the realistic comparison is about 590$ vs 500E.

different market, different circumstances - different prices.

you basically always have to add 20% tax to american prices to get comparable values, and it has been that way forever... it's nothing new

And it seems true with everything over there. I was in Berlin last May (visiting from US) and even allowing for the absolutely horrendous exchange rate, the base prices of most items (including locally made Whustof knives and Japanese cameras) was higher than it would be in the US.

yes, many european countries are high-price countries (direct translation, not sure it fits), but that also means salaries are generally higher.

personally, i'd rather pay higher taxes and have a good social net of benefits, good infrastructure etc. instead of having to deal with US-style turbocapitalism and every-man-for-himself mentality

If only that $ wouldn't want to drop below the bottom of the ocean If you bought a N900 from US amazon AND paid the taxes, you'd still be a good 120 euros better off than buying it in Europe, I believe that's the issue of the OP (and many others on the forum )

Too bad the N900 isn't already shipping, NAM folks could easily finance their trips to the Summit just by bringing along a few extra units

Well it's still 100€ difference.

These are the facts, get over it. USA is always cheaper than europe especially when it comes to technology items.
You can always do what I did when I got my n800. I had a friend buy the n800 from the USA for me. No taxes added. 200$ with some rebate vs almost double around here.
With the added bonus that you @#$% the system in so many ways

There's no written rule that these shall be the facts. From an european company I would expect something different.

I'm going to USA next January, I may buy it there (although I'm not sure it will be 100% compatible with our networks), but there is also the principal. In other words, in this case I'll prefer to @#$% nokia than the system.

This isn't in anyway unique to N900 or Nokia. American and european societies are built very differently as far as economics, social security and healthcare are conserned. Due to this there is allways large difference in price parity between USA and EU.

In Europe:

-18-25% VAT
-HIgher social security/national healthcrae/etc payments.
-Higher minium wages
-These don't count just for sale price. Also remember that the guy who delivers it to you door, hands it to you in shop, makes the advertisements in ad agency and so on. They all add extra costs.

(Don't wanna make this political, but i'll just want to say that (IMHO) it's a price worth paying)

Nokia wll propably make same profit no matter where you buy it. You'll just @#$%: the german tax base and your fellow germans not being able to buy it from the states.


Siemens Gigaset SL785 telephone:
136,95€ on Amazon.de vs 149.95$ (102€) Amazon.com


Adidas Goodyear shoes:
69,90€ on Amazon.de vs 49.57$ (34€) Amazon.com