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In article <HARDY.92Sep6231009@golem.ps.uci.edu> hardy@golem.ps.uci.edu (Meinhard E. Mayer (Hardy)) writes:
>With the current DM/OS/USD ratios NeXTs in Europe should be outright
>bargains.  Something is wrong if prices don't fall together with the 
>Dollar! (Isn't that the purpose of keeping the dollar low? ).

Wrong! The purpose of having a low dollar is that you can raise the
prices in Europe, once the dollar goes up again.
The typical price movement is as follows:
1) Vendor uses a historical multiply with 2 approach to set the DM or
SFr. prices. (Compare that with the usual exchange rates that vary
from 1.3 to 1.7).
2) If dollar goes up: the price goes up by the same ratio
   If dollar goes down: nothing happens except occasional special
   offers.
3) Technology is outdated, new products are in the wings: Get close to
   US prices while product is discontinued in the US
4) Competition gets really stiff: argue about quality and brand name
   image, but leave the price where it is.
5) If gray-market conditions threaten to drive prices down: stop
   servicing products no bought in Europe, punish dealers that sell from
   the US to Europe. Leave pricing almost intact, but lower the price
   symbolically such that you can claim things got cheaper AND have service.   

Ok, this might be a bit harsh, but it is VERY close to the strategy
almost all vendors have. This is however not a NeXT specific problem.
(This does however not excuse NeXT from participating in the game.)
Only the PC market behaves a little bit different, since the far east
imports drive the prices down. But the TOP-brand-name companies are
fairly untouched by that (i.e. IBM, Compaq, Toshiba)

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