UK users, seeing the dollar sign on personal computer prices simply replaced by a pound sign, may feel hard done by in comparison with their US counterparts – but spare a thought for continental users. The Catalan User Institute in Spain has been comparing prices across Europe for personal computers, and finds that continental users have to pay from 39% to 102% more than those in the UK. West German prices were found to be 39% higher, Belgian users paid 44% more, in France they pay 62% more, and in Spain the mark up is an extortionate 102% – and the Catalonians complain that not only are the Spanish users stung, but their siblings in other European countries get much better after-sales service. Spanish users feel particularly aggrieved that their country is often chosen as a low-cost manufacturing base, with their taxes going to pay the inducements to foreign investors, who then proceed to rip them off with overpriced products. The survey, reported in the French weekly O1 Informatique, covered personal computers costing from 500 to 2,000 European Currency Units – an ECU is worth a little more than a dollar – and all prices were converted into ECUs for consistency. The survey covered 60 different machines in each country, fitting a range of specifications.
