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Apple Slashes Australian App Store Prices To Match US
An anonymous reader writes "It's been a long time coming, but Apple has finally readjusted the price of apps in Australia to match pricing in the U.S. While they remain more expensive than in the U.S., premium apps have still received a price-cut, with $8.99, $9.99 and $11.99 apps dropping to $8.49, $9.49 and $10.49, respectively. Movies and music, meanwhile, remain unchanged. In recent months, Apple has come under fire from consumer watchdogs, angry customers and even the Australian Government for its local price markups."
UK prices have also been adjusted, but they've gone up to 69p, £1.49 and £1.99.
"British consumers will have to pay far more than their U.S. counterparts for Apple's latest must-have gadget, the iPad. .. In an effort to explain the price difference between America and Britain, Apple pointed to the fact that there are different, and higher, taxes in Europe, as well as higher transport and other costs" .. link
Apple has announced that the starting price in the UK will be £429 for the 16GB model with a wi-fi link to the internet - around 25 per cent more than in America. The equivalent price for the same device there is around £340
So, when is Apple going to adjust their pricing in the EU? Yes, I know we have VAT tax included in the listed price, but it still does not match up given the current weak US dollar compared to the Euro. Currently, 1 Euro is about 1.42 USD. Apple conveniently prices many if not all of their goods at the same numeric value, e.g. 99 USD and 99 Euros, when comparing US and European prices.
I'll give you a personal example. I recently bought an iPad 2 for work from the Apple Store in the EU. I bought the least expensive 16GB wifi-only model, as that's all I really need. Price: 499 Euro. Same iPad in the US: 499 USD. At the current exchange rate, I paid the equivalent of *709* USD, for the same iPad I can get in the US for 499+tax. And please, don't try to give me that old story that it costs *so much* to ship it halfway around the world, that's BS. When you ship product in large quantities, the cost per device is very small, in the order of a few dollars per device, perhaps 10 in the case of an iPad. In single digit quantities the shipping would be expensive, but not in bulk.
I'll also second the comments on Steam, Valve seem to follow the same rule.
In fact, I have noticed this is a common trend for US companies selling goods abroad, something to rake in a better margin on products sold overseas, whereas most European businesses that offer the same products in the US and Europe tend to even out the pricing according to the value of the currencies.
Remove the tax and the prices are the same.
No, it is not. Even if there was parity between the A$ and US$ (which there is not), $0.99 to $1.19 markup would be a 20% tax. A $1.99 to $2.49 markup would be a 25% tax.
No.
We Australian's are so dumb that we pay whatever is on the price tag. Our dollar is almost 10% higher than the American dollar yet we still pay more than 60% higher for most goods. That is, the same goods that Americans get that come from China. Shit, it is even cheaper per square metre to rent space on a container ship to move goods to Australia than America.
Companies and businesses charge that simply because they can. I think that people here are starting to cotton on though. Hence Australia will finally fall into the recession that the rest of the world has been experiencing.
You do have to pay VAT on ebooks though.
Apple are not the only electronics supplier gouging Australians, take a 16Gb Asus transformer Android tablet US price US$399 Australian price US$549. Its so bad now that most Australians with any internet skills are buying their electronics in the USA and paying the shipping costs and are still saving $200 for every $1,000 spent. It gets even worse for laptops, the Australian price for Lenovo thinkpads is nearly twice the US price now.
Am I the first one to point to the full list of price changes?
UK: £0.59 -> £0.69
Australia: AU$1.19 -> AU$0.99
Japan: 115 -> 85 Yen
Mexico: $10 -> $12
Switzerland: 1.10Fr -> 1.00Fr
Norway: 6.00Kr -> 7.00Kr
And also interesting (at least for some) is Apple will allow business to sell custom apps to other businesses in volume directly.
Animoog.org
Nah. Just mindlessly jump on the Apple-hater bandwagon and demand that the rest of the world subsidize Australia. It's easier, and it's what the mob is doing.
It's only the people who buy Apple products that care, and I doubt they're "Apple-haters". I don't buy Apple products, so I don't give a shit what Apple charge for them in Australia. I do however think they've been taking advantage of the large currency disparity for too long. Of course, Apple seem to agree that they've been charging to much, otherwise they wouldn't be changing their prices - and if all your other points where true, they wouldn't be changing them for those reasons either.
Apple-fanboi much?
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