Why are prices in EUR for consumer items often the same number as original USD price, but the GBP price applies the actual exchange rate?
It's mostly VAT (value added tax or sales tax). For example an US IPad is $499 without tax, and a German IPad is EUR 499 including 17% VAT. The base price is actually only EUR 417.  In addition to that, cost of business is a little higher in Europe because of tax structures and because smaller countries cause higher overheads.