It is all about currency risk Th euro is worse, but the pound is still terrible and expected to get worse - which makes imports more expensive and £:$ is the key one for us.

All importers have to cover that risk as best they can (my brother once lost £25,000 between billing and payment because of currency movements). Apple will have all sorts of hedging instruments, but in the end at least part of the risk must be born in price.

£599 for an unlocked iphone 4g 32-gb.

HTC Desire is about £380-400 unlocked. By the time you've added a 32gb card (£90) then a HTC Desire is only about £100 cheaper, yet it looks about £300 cheaper in terms of design. It's horrid.

Well it's just the price is edging closer to the macbook all the time. It's almost like Apple want to kill it off.

The external brick PSU is gone! Now that's impressive.

In reply to a post by krazykizza:

FYI: 3 hour ago I bought an iPhone 4 16GB

I'll be joining you just as soon as I get back from holidays in July - looking forward to reading the first reviews from my deck chair in the sun.

Actually the best value is the Mini server. Dual 7200 drives and OSX server with an unlimited client license is pretty good going for a small workgroup server.

OK before anyone says, I know you could build a cheap linux server in your garden shed, but it's not strictly comparable.

you could build a cheap linux server in your garden shed

Or you could buy a reliable server with a quad-core processor, RAID 5 disks, and plenty of room for expansion for far less than the cost of a Mac Mini server.

Take your pick of OS, Linux or FreeBSD (I'd go for the latter) - cost zero, a wealth of expertise available, and far more programs avaiable than OS X can offer. Doesn't look as cute, but who cares for a server?

I care! My Mini Server is also the media box for TV et al so its visible and contributes to the character of the room. You can keep your spare parts and garden shed

Well yes, but I suspect that you're not in the market for Snow Leopard server with unlimited client licences. That's more likely a business scenario than a home one.

In reply to a post by AnotherExPipex:

Well yes, but I suspect that you're not in the market for Snow Leopard server with unlimited client licences. That's more likely a business scenario than a home one.

Actually we use one of the previous mini servers to co-ordinate a small research project with several remote users. It sits in the corner and hums away with no bother at all.

I know it's possible to get cheaper Linux/BSD based servers, but it's simply less trouble to use the Mac. We're only a small workgroup and the Mini copes adequately, but if we needed something to do some heavy duty stuff a Linux box would be more cost effective, unlimited OSX client license or not.

In the end it comes down to ease of use and I can certainly see them being used as home media servers.