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Australian IT Price Hike Inquiry Kicks Off: Submissions Wanted
New submitter wirelessduck writes "After some recent complaints from a Labor MP about price markups on software and technology devices in Australia, Federal Government agencies decided to look in to the matter and an official parliamentary inquiry into the issue was started. 'The Federal Parliament's inquiry into local price markups on technology goods and services has gotten under way, with the committee overseeing the initiative issuing its terms of reference and calling for submissions from the general public on the issue.'"
Because Kangaroos are pretty awesome(basically velociraptor sheep) I offer the following advice:
Y'know why vendors price their goods absurdly high in Australia? Because they can.
Y'know why they can? Because You, the government of Australia, let them.
Allow free importation of goods from the US and other markets and watch the vendor premiums for your mysterious island continent collapse. If Australians could simply buy from Adobe US, It'd be pretty difficult for Adobe to maintain a price premium...
Here endeth the lesson.
Is as useful as tits on a bull. Companies can charge whatever they damn well want for their software. Who is anybody to tell them different?
Complaining about the lack of funding into open source or at least home-grown software is much more useful.
It's not so much about high prices - it's about price discrimination. Yes, companies can charge whatever they damn well want for their software. And if they sell it for half the price in the US as compared to Australia, then customer's can damn well buy it wherever they want. And if companies introduce artificial barriers to stop the customers doing just that, that's when the government needs to smack them down.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
Is as useful as tits on a bull.
No It's not
Companies can charge whatever they damn well want for their software.
Sure, but they shouldn't be allowed to stop you importing it from another region.
Who is anybody to tell them different?
The Australian Government
No, it gets here by mail order.
For some reason it is way, way cheaper for me to order stuff from the far east, the US or even the UK and have it shipped over, than it is to get it from an australian website or retailer. Don't tell me that bulk shipping adds a 100% plus markup over individual shipping, these things work the other way around.
And then there are other things like games, which you get online, which often launch at $50-60 in the US and AUD 100 ($102 right now) here. For the same thing, delivered over the internet.
There is no justification.
Posting AC because of Slashdot's bug that prevents me from logging in.
A Technet subscription is mysteriously $200 more dear a year in Australia despite us being quite happy to use US English and keyboards. Yet in Thailand, it's $40 a year, where they need a full translation and separate keyboard support. What's the difference?
The Thai pirate software a lot. A *lot*.
So I ask you, what's the simplist way for Australians to reduce the price of Technet?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Well, that customer testimonial has sold me! Unfortunately, I've already spent this month's IT budget on some Nigerian anti-virus software (they requested I pay for it in person, my flight leaves in an hour...busy busy), so I can't buy any.
However, a close friend of mine has confided in me that the company he works for is having some major, major security problems, and has given him a HUGE budget to buy whatever he needs to shore things up. His number is 202-324-3000, ask for "Bob" (his last name escapes me, I think it's Russian; lots of consonants, very few vowels).
P.S. Getting through the company phone system can be a bit of a pain (they have this automated system, and they are always changing their options...it can be quite trying). If you can't find him in the company phone book, just ask the operator to find his extension for you. Bear in mind, these people are all about security, so they may say things like "we do not have a Bob working for us" or "do you know who you are talking to?"; just relax, it's all a bluff. Bob's pretty far up there on the company hierarchy, and sometimes these annoying sales people dial the wrong number...just tell them that you "now exactly who you are talking to, and it's not Bob" (you need to be insistent at times with these people, so don't give up). There is, of course, a chance that Bob might be out of his office; if that's the case, ask them to put on their chief IT security guy (he handles purchase orders when Bob isn't around), and tell him everything you've told me here. Be sure to have him install a demo version of the software on his machine, and to walk him through the features; he'll be so impressed, he will probably ask for an on-site demonstration from you and your fellow coworkers. Also, remember to mention any other software your company makes, that he might be interested in.
I am John Hurt.
This harks back to a practice among IT companies some years back called (I think) 'transfer pricing'. By charging the local branch of the company a very high cost price, the item could still be sold at a high price with little markup to be taxed in the local jurisdiction.