The Dell Vostro A90 netbook is basically just a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 dressed up in a dark, (like solid black) case. Yet for some reason, when Dell launched the Vostro A90 as a business class netbook in Japan, the company decided to charge ¥92,830 or about $998 for the mini-laptop, which is significantly more than Dell charges for the Inspiron Mini 9. Now Dell has also introduced the Vostro A90 in Europe, but this time the company is giving it a more reasonable price.
Dell’s UK site lists the Vostro A90 for £235, or about $348 US. That’s actually quite a bit cheaper than the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, which goes for £269, or about $398 US. Maybe Dell is hoping to make up the money it’s losing on the machine in the UK with sales of the pricier version in Japan?
Eee PC News points out that you can also find the Dell Vostro A90 for 329 € in Germany. So far it doesn’t appear to be available in the US.
The £235 for the Vostro doesn’t include VAT (which is 17.5%) or shipping, whereas the £269 for the Mini 9 does. When it comes down to it the Vostro seems to actually be around £25 more expensive.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the same was true with the Japanese pricing (although certainly the profit margin has been significantly boosted too) as I believe the cumulative taxes on businesses are ridiculously high there, no?
It’s certainly an interesting descrepancy but the conspiracy nonsense that seems to be floating around the web is patently untrue – Dell is simply a company squeezing as much as they can out of a shiny revamped product aimed at a certain market sector, surely as an American you’re well aware of such practices?
I notice that the Japanese site says support services for corporate customers, ‘Dell professional support’ is provided, including pickup service for one year, and the deal at the UK site seems to offer just the usual one year phone support. But this still doesn’t come close to adding up to the $650 difference in price. I would expect weekly visits from a technician for that 🙂
With doughnuts and coffee!
Not available in the U.S. because Dell can’t figure out how much to charge here.
Now if I remember right aren’t the Vostro and the Mini 9 the same in specs? Thats outrageous that they’d charge that much more in Japan…. hopefully at least SOMETHING is different about it, maybe it comes with a 1 year data plan?