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iTunes Store Available in Australia Very Soon
tintub writes "New Zealander Russell Crowe has probably infuriated Apple by revealing the launch date of the iTunes store in Australia. Apparently it will be open as early as tomorrow (Thursday), selling tracks for AU$1.80 each. Personally I think this is too much, but I'm glad it's finally available in Australia. Now, when's Amazon coming?"
You cut out the middleman and a whole lot of manufacturing -, distribution and logistics in the process and I - as the consumer - want at least a part of that savings reflected on the price.
Whilst you can want that, there's no reason for you to get it.
The cost of production has little to do with the price of the songs. The price is simply the highest amount that consumers will let Apple get away with. Although they could lower their prices and therefore sell more songs, if you add it up, they wouldn't make more money this way.
Now, the actual issue isn't this simple in real life, of course. Also, Apple only makes a tiny amount of money from music sales (at the moment, the store is only there to make iPods more attractive). But it's useful to remember, in the real world, we have real world economics.
It's actually $1.69, not $1.80 as predicted. See this Sydney Morning Herald article