Sony Reader Touch announced. Waterstones Irish store pricing is out of touch with reality
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After getting in touch with Waterstones, their pricing has been reviewed.
Selling price for the Sony Reader Touch will be €315. The Pocket model will be €225. Full details here
Sue has also left a comment below that the Sony Store on St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin has the Touch model for less than €300
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The new Sony Reader Touch models were announced earlier this week by Sony and will be available through Waterstones stores in Ireland. They have great new features (touchscreen, built in dictionary, ability to write notes etc.) compared with the previous model. There is a question mark about glare and readability though. As an owner of the previous model, I will have to see the unit before making a decision on upgrading.
When I reviewed the Sony Reader last year I said that Waterstones were to be commended for their pricing. The unit launched with a UK price of £199, with Irish stores charging €249, which was very fair when taking into account VAT and currency difference. This time round, the situation is not so good.
The Sony Touch models retail at £249.99 in the UK. The Irish store price? A whopping €359.99.
The Sony Pocket models retail at £179.99 in the UK. The Irish store price? A puzzling €249.99.
There simply is no rational explanation for this. I asked Waterstones to confirm the prices weren’t a mistake. They replied via Twitter that, no, there wasn’t a mistake. These are the prices.
The exchange rate between Euro and Sterling is actually the same as this time last year – so there’s no excuse there. Our VAT rate has changed, but that doesn’t make up the difference.
If I’m going to buy one, I would like to buy locally. With these crazy prices being charge by Waterstones though, it’s very unlikely I will.
I will forward this blog post on to Waterstones for comment and see if they can give a rational explanation for these prices. I’ll update as and when.
5 Comments
September 8th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
[...] 2 weeks ago I wrote about the Euro pricing of the new Sony Reader models going on sale in [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
You may be interested to know that Sony themselves are selling the Touch for less than €300 in the Stephen’s Green shop
September 18th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Thanks a million. Good to know. Will update the post.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Hi! Would you know if there’s a problem downloading for the Sony Touch bought in the States. It’s €300 which is significantly cheaper than here. Living in Dublin.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Hi Mo, there shouldn’t be any problem loading ebooks purchased on Waterstones or any other Irish/Uk webstore onto a US device. Are you experiencing problems doing it? Or have I misunderstood your question?