The price here in Australia has increased for the ti2 aswell, and there is no stock of the ti1 anywhere.
I bought my polar in august 2008 for $3900, they want $4700 for a polar now.
I think it's just the case that after a product has been on the market for a while (ala august 200
that they reduce the price. I really dought access have changed anything more than what marc suggested, ie using lighter metals and redesigning the logic board for 25% more power, plus os3.
I bet the ti1 was the equivalent of $4700 back in 2005 when it was first released.
Like marc says, it's not access that has made the ti2 more expensive, I speculate that it has something to do with the distributors in each country....