iCon

An Apple iPod nano that costs E149 in Austria or Germany costs Kč 5,190 in the CR. That's E186, or 25% more than in Vienna or Dresden. The recently devised CommSec iPod Index found that Canada, at US $144, is the cheapest place to buy an iPod. The most expensive is Brazil, where it costs $328. When converted to dollars, the Czech price is $242. That makes the CR more expensive than all but one of the 26 countries ranked in the survey. Czechs might call it an iPodfuk (but then so might English speakers). No wonder we don't see many of the trademark white earphones as we walk around town! Retailers have long cited low volumes as an excuse to overcharge Czech shoppers for clothes and electronics that can be bought for much less across the border. In Poland, music enthusiasts pay 17% less for their iPod than Czechs do. The single market is slow to reach the small CR. [Czech Republic player]