

PlayStation4 will cost 2,000 dollars in Brazil - mvbrasil
http://info.abril.com.br/games/noticias/2013/10/sony-confirma-preco-do-ps4-no-brasil.shtml

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apike
The Brazilian government has incredibly high taxes on electronics from outside
of Brazil. Additionally, the cost of doing business in Brazil is very high.
Some manufacturers cave and do assembly in Brazil so they can sell at a more
reasonable price. Many do not.

The Next Web did a piece on this last year:
[http://thenextweb.com/la/2012/09/30/from-brazil-cost-
brazil-...](http://thenextweb.com/la/2012/09/30/from-brazil-cost-brazil-
profit-why-electronics-expensive-brazil/)

~~~
brianbreslin
Foxconn has a number of factories there now.

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fbueno
Sony also has. But they are producing only PS2 and PS3. Things in Brazil have
a higher price not only due the high taxes, but also because the companies and
the people. See another example:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/08/11/brazils-
rid...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/08/11/brazils-
ridiculous-80000-jeep-grand-cherokee/)

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fiatmoney
It's common to see Brazilians abroad on vacation loading up on large amounts
of consumer products to avoid these super-high import taxes. Apparently in
some countries (Venezuela IIRC) a combination of currency controls & import
duties makes flights abroad self-financing.

~~~
sanoli
A friend of mine sometimes goes to the US, buys some nice used guitars that he
knows are of good value, and sells them when he returns to Brazil, and usually
it pays for the trip.

forgot to add: I almost never buy my computer/electronic stuff here. I just
order online from the US and sometimes pay customs (it's still cheaper most of
the time)

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smackfu
Yep:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=3999+brazilian+reals+in+usd](https://www.google.com/search?q=3999+brazilian+reals+in+usd)

(Google Translate should REALLY not translate "reals" to "dollars" though.)

This is not unusual at all though: [http://thenextweb.com/la/2012/09/30/from-
brazil-cost-brazil-...](http://thenextweb.com/la/2012/09/30/from-brazil-cost-
brazil-profit-why-electronics-expensive-brazil/)

~~~
tiagobraw
Just a little correction, the plural of Real is Reais, and not 'reals'.

~~~
jhhn
It's because 'Real' means royal, and not real (truth). Isn't it?

~~~
hisham_hm
The world "Real" in portuguese means both royal, real (truth) and the
currencry, and "reais" is the plural for all three.

The currency name derives from "royal" and it's a very old name back from the
Monarchy days. _However_, during the Monarchy the plural for the old real-the-
currency was "réis". Nowadays the plural for the modern real-the-currency (in
use since 1994) is reais, like the other standard uses of "real" of the
language.

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waltercfilho
As a Brazilian living in the UK for about 5 years now. It's worth noticing
that R$ 678,00 is the current minimum wage in Brazil, which means that it
would take around 4 months and 2 weeks to save up, before tax, and not buying
anything else in order to get your hands on just the console. I'm 22 and I was
very fortunate, to have a family that could provide me pretty much anything I
wanted. The contrast between the rich and the poor is so damn high it makes me
sick.

~~~
sanoli
Depending on where you live, though, a minimum wage sallary is not a realistic
measure of poor people's income. Living in São Paulo for about 6 years now,
I've yet to find someone who makes minimum wage. The janitor who cleans my
building makes about twice that amount. I think minimum wage is more common in
interior cities and in the northern states. And yes, the contrast between rich
and poor is _too_ high. We've thought about moving to Europe, but I think I'll
miss the sun too much... I know it sounds silly, but I'm just about to leave
São Paulo for its crappy weather, which isn't even that crappy (I can sunbathe
in my living room during all winter).

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jhhn
I never get tired of saying this: Brazil is a trash bin. And saying this is
within my rights.

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speeder
By the way, Xbone will be 1000 USD here, this is resulting into terrible PR
for Sony here, not for the government, because people are believing that if MS
figured how to sell Xbone by 1000 USD, then Sony should have figured how to
sell PS4 cheaper than it (beause it is cheaper than it elsewhere).

Sony might need to bite the bullet and sell at loss here if they want to
recover their PS2 market share (in PS2 glory days they had 95% of market
share, now Xbox 360 has 86% of market share)

~~~
saejox
Whichever hacked first will be one sold most in Brazil. I suspect that will be
xbone.

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devx
What has led to this situation in Brazil? High wages? Is the situation similar
to Australia?

~~~
sanoli
Def. not high wages. As somebody pointed out above, the minimum wage in Brazil
is about R$650 (about US$300). These high prices are caused by very high
import taxes.

~~~
jhhn
The final customer pays about 100% with everything needed to receive the
product at home if bought from US (ebay or whatever) for example. The
importation taxes and handling costs alone does not explain this difference.
We are gonna see all PS4 consoles coming here from Paraguay as usually.

