Global Marketplace? Hah!

Thought I'd post some news, but I've got a bazillion things to do tomorrow and have to turn in early, so here's a couple of things that annoy me about the way tech is sold these days:

  • So, the is out in Europe, huh? Didn't see a single one at the mall where we had lunch today - that's Portuguese retail for you. Anyway, pfig bucked the trend and got a Nintendo - can't for the life of me figure out why.
  • A colleague of mine recently bought an HP printer, and it refused to accept the print cartridges. Turns out there is a region bar code printed on the plastic fascia with the button labels (actually, it's a plastic pattern, but you get the idea). If you're in a hurry and stick the Spanish fascia on your printer (or don't stick one at all), it will reject ink cartridges sold in Portugal (and state they're incompatible).
  • I have yet to see a single Mighty Mouse on sale. The joke going around these days is that the first Intel s will be on sale in Portugal by 2007, which is about when is expected to set up shop here (they do a terrific job selling to corporates from their Spanish office, but as far as I know they're not selling to the public here).