Global iPod costs

If you need to satisfy your iPod jones before the iPhone comes out, you can save yourself US$4.80 by buying a nano in Canada.

In a move akin to The Economist's long-standing Big Mac Index, Sydney-based bank Commonwealth Securities has launched its own CommSec iPod Index... "A key difference between the iPod and Big Mac approaches is that Big Macs are made in a host of countries across the globe whereas iPods are predominantly made in China," CommSec chief economist Craig James told Australian Associated Press. "Simply, an iPod nano should broadly cost the same across the globe."

Ain't so, though. Canada is the cheapest place to buy a nano ($144.20), the U.S. is fourth cheapest ($149), all of the Nordic countries are near the top of the list (just over the $200 mark, about 30% more than the Canadian price), and Brazil breaks the bank ($327.71, more than 125% more expensive than Canada).