Slashdot Mirror
Adobe Bows To Pressure and Cuts Australian Prices
An anonymous reader writes "Software giant Adobe has bowed to public pressure and slashed the price of some of its products for Australian customers a day after being ordered to front a parliamentary committee hearing to explain its excessive charges."
Adobe's pricing has been out of line for a long time, and IMHO, their products are slipping. Acrobat X fails to complete several tasks that I do regularly with Acrobat 8.
It's ridiculously expensive to buy software in Australia. Most of it is purely digital and there's no justification. I hope the other vendors follow suite, soon. Overseas readers may not be aware that it's cheaper to fly TWO people to America and buy Visual Studio there, then fly back here, than it is to buy it here (link here if you think I'm exaggerating: http://theconversation.edu.au/cheaper-hardware-software-and-digital-downloads-heres-how-8382). That's just an example (I know Visual Studio is not exactly top pick on Slashdot but it's still got its place).
It's much cheaper to buy games on Steam through a proxy - as in about 50% cheaper. It's just completely unfair and I'm glad someone is finally doing something about it.
I'm really surprised that they "bowed to pressure". When last I checked, Australian companies could set the price of their goods as they choose and parliamentary testimony had as much authority as the dog and pony shows of the U.S. congress.
The whole thing seems odd to me.
Is there any news as to why they thought their prices should have been so high in the first place?
-SaNo
This is clearly an admission of guilt. I rest my case.
But wharrgarbl government coercion wharrgarbl the Free Market wharrgarbl!
I'm still going to download your software for free, though. No hard feelings. There will still be plenty of others dropping hundreds of dollars on your overpriced software.
That definitely makes them look not guilty.
I hope the other vendors follow suite
I see what you did there.
It surprises me that there is no inquest into DVD charges as well .. They have more control over these than with software, and they strongarm their way into the supply chain, pretending that there is a compelling reason to have to charge more :(
If your business has to pay more than offshore competitors for the tools it uses then you have a major problem.
Strong case could be made that any company that sells it's software at lower cost in other countries should be legislatively compelled to match that within your country, but would need someone powerful (like EU or WTO) to make it happen.
Now, we just need more countries to jump on the bandwagon and force corporations to lower their extravagant prices.
While digitally-delivered software is an egregious example of price gouging, it's hardly unique. Sure, Australia is a long way away from most places and it's a very small market (about 22M people). So it's understandable that some goods will cost more, especially if they need local parts and supports: think cars, or even computers (but not bits). But, despite the pervasiveness of the internet, price differentials still exist FAR in excess of those caused by local taxation and tariffs and market sizes.
The US has it very, very good indeed. Why does, say, an Audi cost 30-40% less in California than in Germany, after you remove taxes? Same car (modulo some safety marks molded into some of the parts and other minor differences), same warranty, same service. The only difference is that it spends a few weeks on a boat instead of a few hours on a truck getting to the dealer. Why do the same Chinese-manufactured clothes cost, in some cases, 3-5x more in Switzerland than at Macy's anywhere in the US? How come that Japanese cameras are 30% cheaper in the US than in, say, the UK, or even in Japan?
I think that part of the answer is cultural. As an emigree to the US (22 years ago), one of the things that I first noticed was the national obsession with getting the best price on everything, almost regardless of personal wealth. Americans simply won't put up with price gouging. The clerk at Macy's will take some time to stack coupons and discounts for you to give you the lowest price. People actually negotiate the prices of many things with the seller, e.g. cars. In the UK, a favorite phrase was "if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it", which was a not-so-subtle tactic to make you feel somehow inferior for wanting a discount. And I will always remember the look on an American friend's face when, at a UK breakfast place, she asked for a refill of her (tiny) coffee cup and was told that it would be an extra 2 pounds. Try that at any restaurant in the US and witness the riot.
The internet simply causes resentment and envy when people in less fortunate places browse US sites. A lot of people simply order from the US and deal with the customs and shipping hassles (and, sometimes, the lack of local warranty). My Swiss friends bring empty suitcases on trips to the US and fill them up at Best Buy and Macy's; the Swiss tax on bringing stuff in for personal use is very low. I saw one billionaire (literally) friend from Switzerland buy a box of batteries at Best Buy because they're so expensive in his home country.
Actiblizzard is a private company and has every right to charge for World of Wharrgarbl in different countries!
This is the most insightful, objective item that I've read on this topic in a very long time.
they strongarm their way into the supply chain
Part of the problem is that motion picture producers tend to be committed to exclusive distribution contracts with distributors who understand the cultural, legal, and logistic peculiarities in a particular market. These long-term contracts tend to have begun before 1997 when DVD came out. And because they're exclusive, it would be a breach of contract for a film's copyright owner to allow anybody but that distributor to distribute copies of the film in that market.
Does that mean they have to start paying customers to use their free products?
So enlighten me. You make a wrong, and you get caught in the act. Just before the case is due you stop doing that, and you are off the hook? Sounds odd.
I can see it now; "Yes officer, I was doing 80 in a 50 zone, but I'm not doing that anymore, so we are good, right??"
To Terminate, or not to Terminate, that's the question - SCSIROB
Why *were* you historically charging such inflated prices? Justify why you've soaked Australian consumers for years and cost people a lot of extra money.
In other words, don't let them get out of explaining what they used to do before ending the difference.
They'd get less profit rather than offer explanations about price gouging. That says it all.
Why has nobody asked why I can't use my Adobe, Steam, Microsoft, Apple, etc accounts if I move overseas.
If I were to move from Canada to the US, I would no longer be able to use the iTunes account setup for Canada. If I move to Japan, All of these are no longer available, same with Australia or the UK.
Yet Canada faces the same kind of price discrimination, (just look at any item on Amazon.com and then look at it on Amazon.ca)
Photoshop CS6: Amazon.com
List Price: $699.00
Price: $583.99 & eligible for FREE Two-Day Shipping with Amazon Prime. Complete your free trial sign up at checkout.
You Save: $115.01 (16%)
Photoshop CS6: Amazon.ca
List Price: CDN$ 799.99
Price: CDN$ 723.70 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: CDN$ 76.29 (10%)
Not only is there a 139.71$ (about 20%) difference (Keep in mind that CAN-USD is basically at parity +/- one cent) but Adobe's own website lets you buy the US copy and digitally download it anyway.
Adobe.com: US $699.00 Full , 399.99 Upgrade
Stupid American. It's "as they did" not "that they did". Christ.
Unless I'm reading the article wrong Adobe have only changed their subscription costs for AU customers not the price of the standalone downloadable versions (which is what most people would be purchasing online from Adobe). A standalone download of Photoshop is still as A$1,168 compared to $699 on the US site. Adobe have been aggressively trying to get their customers onto "subscription" models for their software as it gives them a never ending revenue stream and is more profitable for them. Discounting the subscription price serves this strategy and simultaneously give them a PR "win" in the media while not addressing the main grievance aussies have - the price disparity cost of "standalone" software (which is what most people use). In short Adobe have made a self serving pricing change for PR reasons and dressed it up as "evolving its product offering to provide increased value to subscribers" when it is not actually addressing the real issue.
As seen in the article as well this strategy has worked as the politician Ed Husic comments "“Lowering business IT costs will provide a big boost to small and medium sized enterprises – and we need to keep pushing to see this happen". He seems to believe Adobe have done something to resolve the price differential Australian consumers have to pay for standalone downloadable software when Adobe has done nothing of the sort.
Have a look at Brazil. http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/08/11/brazils-ridiculous-80000-jeep-grand-cherokee/
Glad to hear that Adobe are starting to correct their prices; hopefully Apple will follow this change, it's been a point of conversation in this and many other forums for a while.
Unfortunately if these companies think that cutting their prices now after shafting the Australian public for so many years; think again, you'll still need to present justification to Federal Government and I hope that when they do that they'll be directed to reimburse their customers for years of unfair trading.....