iRex DR800S for Europe - does less, costs more?

Today IREX Technologies unveiled a European version of the DR800SG electronic paper reader device, that is promised to be available from January 18th in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. The new DR800S device has the same design and set of features as its American brother DR800SG, but it doesn't lack one letter in its model name for nothing. It also lacks a 3G module, which probably means that iRex gave up its plan to offer 3G connectivity all over the world. However, if you would expect that without 3G it would cost less, you are wrong. It costs 499 Euro or 449 GBP, which on this day roughly translates to 717 or 726 USD respectively. So, iRex reader is once again too expensive for me.

However, the new device has one big advantage over DR800SG - it is listed on the iRex corporate web site, and it will be available in their online shop. While mythical DR800SG, that was supposed to appear in BestBuy in December, seem to exist only in press releases and blog posts such as mine. I'm sure the new device will be great to use, and frankly I don't think 3G is a vital feature, I only wish iRex would manage to make it cheaper, as I simply can't let myself to spend half-a-Mac on a device that I will only use for reading.