Microsoft ups Surface slab prices for Brits. Darn weak pound, eh?

Just say 'sod off MS I ain't paying that much'

and go find an alternative.

or

go buy it in the USA and if you choose the place carefully you can avoid all sales tax. But don't tell anyone especially HMRC otherwise they'll be after you for the VAT.

It is moves like this this that really make people sit up and think again before contunuing their love-in with MS.

Are they actually repatriating it at the moment?

I thought all the big companies were holding the cash offshore until the next rates 'amnesty' when they can bring it home without paying as much tax?

As if..

Win 10 wasn't enough reason not to buy a surface.

Hmmm but those price rises, just like Apple's, are actually higher than the fall in Sterling.

BIG business always looking for an opportunity to shaft you.

There are only two reasons not to like Microshaft: everything they do and everything they say. Other than that, they are flawless.

"pipping VMWare"

Nah, you just have a short term memory.. VMWare raised their prices by something like 30% about 12-18 months ago.

Oh noes, MS is putting its prices up...

Mr. Microsoft - "I have put my UK prices up"

Everyone in the UK - "Knock yourself out, we weren't going to buy any anyway."

Profiteering?

see http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=GBP&to= &view=1Y

In the couple of months before the Brexit vote the 1 UK Pound was worth around 1.45 US Dollars. Over the last couple of weeks it has hovered around 1.25 US Dollars which is a 14% drop.(up from a low of 1.20 US dollars in January) To get back the same US Dollar value the UK prices would have to go up by 16%. Anything more cannot be put down to currency exchange changes but I do not think M$ are guilty here.

Putting up the Surface prices by 15% does not seem unreasonable by these measures; they were poor value before June 2016 and they still are.

Supply and demand?

I'm pretty sure that the people at Microsoft report their quarterly results in dollars. When they sell to customers in other countries, they account for value added tax where applicable, shipping if necessary, cost of support (employing locals), regionalization (spelling checkers with colour and favourite), etc...

If the value of a local currency drops too drastically relative to the value of the dollar, Microsoft must increase prices to cover the exchange rate related losses.

If the market can't or won't bare the adjustment, they will incur a different set of losses and choose to stay and fight or give up and leave.

Microsoft probably waited for the pound to reach a level they expect be stable and made a big painful adjustment that should compensate for possible further minor shifts allowing the U.K. Market to adjust to the change and go on as normal. I also assume they are not sitting and celebrating this change or even taking pride in it.

Consider as someone living in Norway, our currency devalued by 50% during the oil crisis and hasn't recovered even though oil more or less has. We feel your pain but also understand that $1 is $1 and it takes more crowns to make a dollar today than 3 years ago.

I like the picture of S Nadella

The expression on his face says "This is how I hold your balls! Pay or else..."

All Microsoft products suck. Except their vacuum cleaners.

Hold on a minute....

The lead into the article is "Microsoft has increased hardware and software prices in the UK for a second time this year, citing the decreased value of the weaker sterling currency when repatriated as dollars."

.... all I ever hear on this subject is that American corporation tax is so high MS, Apple et al leave the money in <insert tax haven here> rather than repatriate it, therefore surely the currency fluctuation isn't relevant and 'losses' are entirely theoretical. The Donald even made one of his revolutionary / exciting / mad / deranged / hysterical speeches to the GOP on the subject

http://fortune.com/2017/01/17/trump-gop-corporate-taxes-imports/

Re: ...or go buy it in the USA

Not just M$ guilty of this - top end NVidia kit M6000 cards for their VCA line. At the moment it's cheaper to buy them in the US (paying local taxes) - then have someone in the US courier them over (for the price of a free flight).

Yay!

Payrises all round?

*crickets*

Why can't Apple grab the opportunity now and elbow in on the corporate market for real?

Some kind of normal file system access where the user knows where things are and can copy them without using the cloud would be a great start.

A simpler way to deploy your own apps would be a good continuation.

I think this would go a long way towards sinking MS.