They couldn't be more wrong!

I happened to vacation in Prague last week and I remember I saw that Apple reseller shop, close to the Republic Square, I think. I walked in and window-shopped around to conclude in astonishment that they are much more advanced in the Czech Republic in Apple Reseller Stores than anything I have seen in Belux so far (Belgium/Luxembourg). Same holds for their other shops with trendy names most of which I wasn't even up to date to recognize (my spouse did though, surprise.. surprise...).

The Czechs are a bunch of great people. Courageous, polite with good manners, good looking and extremely intelligent*. Less than twenty years after the fall of the (iron) curtain they managed to look a lot more advanced than anything we got in 'Western' Europe. They are catching up faster than you could ever credit them for, as my good friend Fritz told me in Vienna few days later. However, what those romantic Czech kids don't know yet (or probably they do but refuse to admit) is that the anti-terror wargames of the current US administration brought the dollar to a historic low, almost never seen in living memory. We used to pay 1.2 euros for a dollar not long ago and now we can buy 1.4 dollars to the euro. American companies do like that a lot as this helps them make their dollar targets easier and usually adopt a dollar for a euro policy in defining European pricelists. To their credit, the dollar listprice Yankee companies post on their domestic online stores is before sales tax (anything between 6 and 10%) whereas equivalent product pricelists shown in European stores are augmented by VAT rates of more than 20% in some places, needed to fund local bankrupt governments like the one we have in this country.

Is that a problem for Jobs? Not really because they need to make a living too. By the way, if I have to spend a few hundred euros more on an Apple Powerbook than on a lousy piece of portable from Dell or Packard Bell then that's what will eventually define my decision. Is the premium worth paying? If yes, then I go ahead and do it. Look at Sony's VAIO line for example... you have to pay quite a premium above the market average for that little extra that's not even worthwhile (IMHO of course) !

Conclusion. Kids from the Czech Republic or anywhere else in Europe learn something for good:

a) Price is defined by what any fool wants to pay for a piece of equipment to meet his perceived needs. Free market and free competition define the price of anything in the free world.

b) Most, if not all US companies love to charge a premium on their domestic dollar price when they decide on their foreign currency pricelists and in so doing they love to 'overvalue' the dollar in that respect because one never knows where the freakin' greenbuck is headed towards in the next 12 months. If, in the meantime, they get an extra bonus from a deteriorating buck, then so much the better. It only helps the quarters and gets sharholders off their back. And,

c) running a business is not a charity matter, as the greatest charity dude of the planet (mighty Bill Gates III) can tell you in a heartbeat.

That's the name of the game kiddos. If you don't like it go buy a Negroponte box. It's a free world after all. Or, innit?

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* True story: I went to an Italian restaurant in Prague on my second day in town last week. It's called l'Angolo (meaning angle or corner, because it's at the crossing of two main streets). Fine decor, excellent food, elegant and Italian (sounding) waiters. And a great collection of Italian wines, among other things. They even had a part of the restaurant reserved to... Lexus (!) as Toyota rented permanently that part of the house to organize dinners for clients or for their own staff when they brought them to the Czech for courses or other events... which means that even the Japs like the place. After paying my compliments to the head waiter I asked him whether all of his staff were Italians. "Not a single one" he replied... "not even the chef". Amused by my flabbergasted look he added: "you know, cooking is cooking... if you want you can learn anything... people wanted good Italians in Prague, so we assembled some Czech kids, bought some books... and learned it". And he left me gasping looking quite proud of himself. He deserved it in all honesty! If you happen to visit Prague, go find the place. Called l'Angolo, like in Angle.