Electronics with Borders
 

That's the headline in a Wall St Journal article reporting on how some companies, including Apple Computer, are quietly changing their US products so that they don't work overseas. The reason:

"[to] prevent thrifty foreign consumers and gray marketers -- traders who sell goods through channels that haven't been authorized by the manufacturer -- from taking advantage of the decline of the dollar against the world's major currencies to buy lower-price products in the U.S. In terms of euros, pounds or other strong currencies, U.S. retail goods are much cheaper today than they were two years ago. U.S. multinational companies want Europeans to continue to buy their goods in Europe, however, rather than seeking out bargains in the U.S. The companies make more money if Europeans pay in euros for their goods at current exchange rates."

The WSJ tells the story of one Fiji-based DVD producer who bought his 18th Apple (the G5 iMac) only to have it blow up when he plugged it in because Apple no longer included the previously-standard voltage converter. Nintendo is doing the same thing with Game Boys, which no longer work on removable batteries, but have to be recharged.

Also, the latest Hewlett-Packard printers are designed with region coding, like DVD players, so that they will only work with ink cartridges purchased in their own region. This way someone with an HP printer in Europe can't buy cheap cartridges from the US.

The article did say that Apple laptops, iPods, and the new Minis are dual voltage. Still, this is a disturbing trend -- and one that travelers should be aware of.