..until Webster turns up here claiming Apple deliberately caused the value of the pound to drop just to prevent them lowering their price?

Look at the promise of "it'll be $199 irrespective of where you are" for the iPhone 3G

Nice. Congratulations. Except that the sole supplier deals means the monthly contracts obscure the price of the phone... just look at O2's tariffs, it's not just a UK problem but in other regions as well. Currency variations means Apple will have to adjust prices. It gets complex, the article is about iTunes and they control the retail prices of those, in the EU they can only set "recommended" prices I think...

Of course, we all have a choice. I don't own any Apple hardware and I don't buy from iTunes. I do like the new iPhone, however, I'll let the first adopters determine if it's really worth the premium.

Time for us to join the €

Not only do they create the second coming of mobiles, but they now also have control of the currency markets! All that needs to happen now is for Jobs to be crucified and resurrect to save mankind......

..if we'd joined the Euro in the first place, we wouldn't have this problem....

Manipulating the European money markets just so Apple don't have to change their prices.

Now the hard part, Adobe have to make the US Dollar = Sterling to attain price parity for Photoshop

is get the A Rabs to sell us oil in euros rather than dollars and we'll be able to afford to travel to work again.

Can't be long, I'll check back later.

Hm, want to join €uroland? Really? I thought it was RIP OFF BRITAIN!!! anyway and already, so do you really really want switch the currency? Not only is there real world cost associated (all those lonely grubby rubber dispensers out in the shire...) but everyone who can takes it for an excuse to raise prices 50-100%. So if you fancy being told a lesson about the power of statistics (calculated "real" inflation versus the real pain in your pocket) just come and join €uroland. It's a fun ride.

Joining the Euro isn't an option, to do that you need to be in ERMII for 2 years (3? Can't quite remember).... but your currency needs to be stable BEFORE you can join. It's not that you can just join to make the UK currency stable.

"All we need to do now...is get the A Rabs to sell us oil in euros rather than dollars and we'll be able to afford to travel to work again."

Well yes, Iran is refusing to take US$, Russia trades in Euros for it's European sales. And the rest are reducing their dollar holdings, (thank Bush/Cheney's wild increase in money supply for that). As the next major currency Euro has risen on the back of that.

So the oil price rises are less for countries in the Euro zone than outside it.

"is get the A Rabs to sell us oil in euros rather than dollars and we'll be able to afford to travel to work again."

Didn't Sadam Hussain try that? Look what it did for him!

As a resident of a country that recently adopted the euro I can tell you that things have got expensive here - my income is in pounds sterling.

Dual pricing (old & euro) for the first year to ensure that there's no rip-offs in the change-over, which means that prices have increased at the same rate as the rest of the world due to increased fuel & food costs.

I recall sexy Cecil Parkinson (Thatcher's hatchet man) explaining why Britain should not join the euro - it would mean all those people who make a living buying and selling money would be out of work. I would like to admit that my first thoughts were of these poor people undergoing hardship, sadly I have to confess it was "fuck them".

Ahh, good old dual pricing... just wait till that year is over.