US vs UK Prices
post a comment | posted Aug 20
After my recent trip to Japan it really opened my eyes to the varying prices of games consoles and accesories.
Today I decided to do a few comparisons between UK and US Amazon.com prices.
Today the Exhance rate is 1GBP = 1.98USD
To give prices a point of reference the prices are compared with the UK minimum wage for over the age of 22 of 10.59USD (equivalent) and the Californian minimum wage of 7.50USD. All monetary values are stated in USD for clarity. All prices, exchange rates correct on 20th Aug 07.
So to Kick off:
PS3 60 GB SKU.
US price = 499.99USD
UK price = 791.98USD
US PS3 Is equal to 66.67 times the Californian minimum wage.
UK PS3 Is equal to 74.79 times the UK minimum wage.
Wii (Wii Sports included)
US price = 340.00USD
UK price = 356.00USD
US Wii Is equal to 45.33 times the Californian minumum wage.
Uk Wii Is equal to 33.62 times the UK minimum wage.
Nintendo DS (Polar White)
US Price = 129.99USD
UK Price = 188.08USD
US DS Is equal to 17.33 times the Californian minimum wage.
UK DS Is equal to 17.76 times the UK minimum wage.
PSP
US Price = 169.99USD
UK Price = 257.38USD
US PSP Is equal to 22.67 times the Californian minimum wage.
UK PSP is equal to 24.30 times the UK minimum wage.
Bioshock (X360) (preorder)
US Price = 59.99USD
UK Price = 79.18USD
US Bioshock is equal to 8 times the Californian minimum wage.
UK Bioshock is equal to 7.48 times the UK wage.
There's some quite interesting numbers there, I originally started looking into it thinking that the US had far better prices than the UK but when minimum wage is taken into account it gives the prices context and it turns out that the UK has some of the better prices; interms of minimum wage relevance, such as the Wii console, the PSP and Bioshock.
However there's a reasonable sting in the tail for the British with the PS3, but with the bundle incentives available in the UK it helps to take the edge off.
If you just read that, I hope you found it interesting, but remember its not an exact science because obviously not everyone is on minimum wage.
Ben Miles