HTC Vive UK price increased to $1000 in wake of Brexit

[midian182]

The main reason why VR headsets still aren’t found in a huge number of homes - other than the lack of a killer app or game - is because they remain prohibitively expensive. Not only are the $600 Oculus Rift and $800 HTC Vive going to put a big dent in your wallet, but you’ll also need a PC beefy enough to handle them.

In the UK, the number of people buying a Vive may be about to slow down to a crawl. In what is yet another repercussion of Brexit, the price of the virtual reality headset was today increased by £70 (around $92), bringing its total to $1000.

While HTC avoided mentioning the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in its statement, the company said that currency fluctuations - caused by Brexit – are responsible for the jump in cost.

“HTC continuously monitors and adjusts pricing to ensure we are providing our customers with the best value possible,” HTC said in a statement on its website. “Due to recent currency valuation changes and the current value of the GBP we are adjusting the price of the HTC Vive in the UK to £759 + P&P. The adjustment will come into effect on Monday 1st August.”

The Vive had been on sale for £689 ($908) in Britain; the added £70 is likely to put it even further beyond the reach of most gamers.

HTC is far from the first company to increase its UK prices in the wake of the referendum. Both Dell and HP are making their machines more expensive in the country, and OnePlus raised the cost of its OnePlus 3 handset by 6.5 percent after the pound hit a 31-year-low against the dollar.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/65793-htc-vive-uk-price-increased-1000-wake-brexit.html

 

[gingerbill]

The price of freedom

 

[Puiu]

The price of old people voting against the younger generation.

 

[Master Yeti]

The price of letting common folk decide on matters they don't know anything about, other than what media tells them.

 

[Evernessince]

The price of freedom

I think you mean isolationism. The EU wasn't just an organization that imposed rules on everyone, it also allowed for open transport between a large number of countries and fostered trade. In a world where the Global economy is so important, Britian had to see the price hikes coming.

 

[umbala]

You made your bed, now sleep in it.

 

[wastedkill]

Atleast we didn't have uneducated teens voting in brexit, we are far better off out of the EU, Or did you all miss the fact that the EU would love to increase robotic manufacturing by a whopping 20% aka electronic persons tax (terminator tax).

 

[texasrattler]

Outside of wastedkill's comment, looks like everyone else has no clue about what's going on. The UK does not and has not ever needed to the EU. EU has always needed them. Once all of political nonsense settles down n people are done overreacting, the UK will go back to the way it was. Which for the country is a good thing. You will see other countries do the same thing in time. Their are several countries who do not need the EU.

UK know what they are doing. Yes it will hurt at first but in the long term, it will be the best thing for the country. The people have a say in the UK and they spoke. It is their right to do so. Their are a lot of other countries who don't have that but would like that.

 

[wiyosaya]

I was not going to go Vive anyway, however, it will make Vive a less attractive VR solution for some. The question is will this ultimately hurt or kill Vive?

Stay tuned...

 

[Evernessince]

Outside of wastedkill's comment, looks like everyone else has no clue about what's going on. The UK does not and has not ever needed to the EU. EU has always needed them. Once all of political nonsense settles down n people are done overreacting, the UK will go back to the way it was. Which for the country is a good thing. You will see other countries do the same thing in time. Their are several countries who do not need the EU.

UK know what they are doing. Yes it will hurt at first but in the long term, it will be the best thing for the country. The people have a say in the UK and they spoke. It is their right to do so. Their are a lot of other countries who don't have that but would like that.

I don't know about the whole "it's for the best" line of thinking. There are several examples of countries going into isolationism in history and it has never really turned out well. Considering the modern world runs so fast, the effect of reducing trade / tightening borders is compounded.

You may very well be right about other countries following in britian's footsteps though, usually these periods of open trade and isolationism work is cycles. People who were previously happy and content with more open trade are now suddenly more sheepish as politicians are using scare tactics and ISIS as an excuse to close trade. You can see it in donald trump's words all the time.

 

[gingerbill]

The price of letting common folk decide on matters they don't know anything about, other than what media tells them.

err the media constantly and exclusively told them to vote stay so your comment makes no sense

 

[LiveResistance]

The price of letting common folk decide on matters they don't know anything about, other than what media tells them.

err the media constantly and exclusively told them to vote stay so your comment makes no sense

I thought the same thing. All I heard was the media screaming that the world would end if people voted to leave. When in doubt, go against what the *****s in the mainstream media tell you. (Usually)

 

[BSim500]

I think you mean isolationism. The EU wasn't just an organization that imposed rules on everyone, it also allowed for open transport between a large number of countries and fostered trade. In a world where the Global economy is so important, Britian had to see the price hikes coming.

There is a middle ground between "all in vs all out". See Norway, Switzerland & Iceland (which is how "Europe" was originally "advertised" to the "little people" back in the early 70's, all the benefits of free-trade, none of the negatives of loss of border control or EFTA to EU hyper-state "agenda drift" ). It's only really been the 90's onwards when immigration spiralled out of control well into the realms of unsustainability that the anti-EU backlash started up, and was the primary driving force for Brexit.

As for the topic of the article trying to justify +10-20% price increases on Brexit, this is utterly laughable. Prior to Brexit I bought an i3-6100 for £92 for my HTPC. Today the same chip is £94. That's +2% more not +10%. Anyone capable of using a historical Forex chart can see the 10% difference between today's $1.32 per £ vs pre-Brexit $1.46 per £ is a tiny fraction of the +50% fluctuations including from $1.4 per £ in 2002 to $2.11 per £ in 2007 and back down to $1.4 by 2009 when the price of US imported goods sure as hell didn't become +30-50% cheaper to match exchange rate fluctuations vs the weak USD at the time.

So anyone stuffing their prices up +10% now then claiming it's for "political" reasons is simply bull-sh*tting you. As usual in Britain a weak £ means prices of imported goods rise, but a strong £ never seems to make any imports cheaper due to retailer price gouging. HTC is simply riding off the back of that stuff and hoping the general populace's "currency rate history books" started on 24th June 2016...

 

[Reehahs]

If EU idea had worked properly then we would have had a nice United States of Europe like the USA.

 

[oldikes]

If EU idea had worked properly then we would have had a nice United States of Europe like the USA.

USA isn't working too well ATM - most of my peers and the government don't really seem to understand why state lines exist

 

[Puiu]

Atleast we didn't have uneducated teens voting in brexit, we are far better off out of the EU, Or did you all miss the fact that the EU would love to increase robotic manufacturing by a whopping 20% aka electronic persons tax (terminator tax).

pretty sure the majority who had an higher education voted to remain. this was clearly a vote that was won by the old and the uneducated. it's fact, not an opinion, you have the stats on the internet.

 

[Evernessince]

There is a middle ground between "all in vs all out". See Norway, Switzerland & Iceland (which is how "Europe" was originally "advertised" to the "little people" back in the early 70's, all the benefits of free-trade, none of the negatives of loss of border control or EFTA to EU hyper-state "agenda drift" ). It's only really been the 90's onwards when immigration spiralled out of control well into the realms of unsustainability that the anti-EU backlash started up, and was the primary driving force for Brexit.

As for the topic of the article trying to justify +10-20% price increases on Brexit, this is utterly laughable. Prior to Brexit I bought an i3-6100 for £92 for my HTPC. Today the same chip is £94. That's +2% more not +10%. Anyone capable of using a historical Forex chart can see the 10% difference between today's $1.32 per £ vs pre-Brexit $1.46 per £ is a tiny fraction of the +50% fluctuations including from $1.4 per £ in 2002 to $2.11 per £ in 2007 and back down to $1.4 by 2009 when the price of US imported goods sure as hell didn't become +30-50% cheaper to match exchange rate fluctuations vs the weak USD at the time.

So anyone stuffing their prices up +10% now then claiming it's for "political" reasons is simply bull-sh*tting you. As usual in Britain a weak £ means prices of imported goods rise, but a strong £ never seems to make any imports cheaper due to retailer price gouging. HTC is simply riding off the back of that stuff and hoping the general populace's "currency rate history books" started on 24th June 2016...

The price increases really depends on what is lost in trade from not being in the EU. The HTC Vive is only increasing in price as a knee-jerk reaction to brexit. The increase in price isn't really related to the UK's current trade situation, it's is only a side effect.

 

[Evernessince]

pretty sure the majority who had an higher education voted to remain. this was clearly a vote that was won by the old and the uneducated. it's fact, not an opinion, you have the stats on the internet.

I expect we'll see the same thing happen in america with trump.

 

[wastedkill]

pretty sure the majority who had an higher education voted to remain. this was clearly a vote that was won by the old and the uneducated. it's fact, not an opinion, you have the stats on the internet.

I expect we'll see the same thing happen in america with trump.

Well in america you do actually have a lot more people who believe in god, so in effect they will believe in a psychopath like Trump..

 

[wiyosaya]

If EU idea had worked properly then we would have had a nice United States of Europe like the USA.

USA isn't working too well ATM - most of my peers and the government don't really seem to understand why state lines exist

As a fellow American, my take on it is that Government, in general - state, federal, or otherwise, really does not seem to understand why it exists.

 

[wiyosaya]

pretty sure the majority who had an higher education voted to remain. this was clearly a vote that was won by the old and the uneducated. it's fact, not an opinion, you have the stats on the internet.

I expect we'll see the same thing happen in america with trump.

Well in america you do actually have a lot more people who believe in god, so in effect they will believe in a psychopath like Trump..

It is probably more that those who believe in god and Trump believe that their god is the only god and that Trump can actually do everything his campaign promises to do. Historically, presidential candidates promise many things, but are rarely able to deliver on any of those promises.

 

[Evernessince]

Well in america you do actually have a lot more people who believe in god, so in effect they will believe in a psychopath like Trump..

It's mostly the older generation that believes in god. Millennials are much more agnostic / atheist than baby boomers. The polls so far don't lie, most of trumps voters are older, white, high school education max, and usually religious.

When Trump first started running I thought he was a candidate that was running for laughs. The fact that there are people voting for him not only shows how bad education in America is but it also shows how bad hillary is. The fact that a democracy has no choice but to elect one of two groomed candidates from parties in which they ultimately have no say in is irony at it's best.

 

[Puiu]

I expect we'll see the same thing happen in america with trump.

while he has more "fanboys" than expected, right now he has almost no chance to win. unlike something difficult like the effects of UK leaving the EU (which does require some college classes for a better in-depth understanding), it's much more simple for people to understand what would happen if they voted for Trump. (I'll leave this to your imagination ^_^)