They aren't anymore. I've lived both in Poland and countries in western EU, Netherlands be one example, and honestly everyday product prices are very similar. The major difference is housing although Poland is very similar to Berlin housing wise, now compare the average salaries...
That's a good one, haven't heard of this before.
Personally i think apple relaxed a bit from what they've been doing 3 years a go and have other things to worry about.
Besides the design of WhitePad matches a number of other products on the market not only an iPhone.