Apple explains to the Australian Court why their prices are so damn high "We'd love cheaper prices" - Polidicks

[IMG]http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2013/03/22/1226602/774238-choice.jpg[/IMG] [URL]http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/apple-defends-high-costs-technology-prices-australia/story-e6frg6n6-1226602766888[/URL] [QUOTE][B]Tech giants front hearing on prices Aussies charged higher prices for music, movies Adobe and Apple defend slugging consumers Apple: 'We'd love cheaper prices'[/B] SOFTWARE giant Microsoft has admitted it slugs Australian customers significantly more for its products in a federal committee today and said if customers didn't like it they would "vote with their wallets". Microsoft became the latest international technology company to face the House of Representatives committee into information technology prices this afternoon, following evidence from Adobe and Apple. Microsoft Australia managing director Pip Marlow said the company did not create one price for all global customers and instead set a different, higher price for its Australian users. "Is there a price differential for our customers? Clearly yes," Ms Marlow said. "We don't set a global price for our products. We do not operate on a standard price because we do not believe that every market is the same." Ms Marlow said Australian prices were determined based on competition in the market, and said customers who did not approve of their software prices would buy software elsewhere. "Our customers will vote with their wallets," she said.[/QUOTE]

It fucking shouldnt be by any goddamn means. It's cheaper to ship it to Australia than the fucking US.

I always feel bad hearing about the prices things go for in Australia.

I was listening to some of the testimony on the radio yesterday, the Adobe guy claimed the reason for such a price difference was due to the Australian website being "more personalised". Apple blaming publishers sounds about right though, when the store originally launched over it it was missing a bunch of content, and when they launched the eBook store they had nothing but public domain since local publishers basically refused to sell anything.

[QUOTE=Mbbird;40007093]I always feel bad hearing about the prices things go for in Australia.[/QUOTE] luckly we have options to get around these things legally such as using cd key warehouses or as the image states getting passed the geo-blocking I really hope a result comes out of these hearings, 1 grand for adobe products is insanely expensive for anyone over here

Also, no one bring up the "we get paid more/ have higher lower wage ect" argument. The markup on this software is much higher then it should be, release games can cost up to $90 to $110 dollars (thats about $94 to $115 US or £62 to £75.5 GBP). Don't even get me started on how much adobe marks up shit here, the're probably the worst with this.

American here. We think they're shitbirds too.

This is why I never buy products from Apple, Microsoft or Adobe, they're a bunch of money hungry cunts.

Yeah fuck them too. I wouldn't feel sorry at all if people pirate their software because of their fucking ridiculous prices.

[QUOTE=Ruzza;40007240]This is why I never buy products from Apple, Microsoft or Adobe, they're a bunch of money hungry cunts.[/QUOTE] and every other consumer electronic manufacturer isn't??

[QUOTE=Ruzza;40007240]This is why I never buy products from Apple, Microsoft or Adobe, they're a bunch of money hungry cunts.[/QUOTE] posted on a windows 7 pc

Real reason why the prices are high, "Cause consumers will still buy it anyway."

[QUOTE=Martele;40007254]posted on a windows 7 pc[/QUOTE] I got Windows 7 free with an MSDN key that my school gave to all students in my course for free. Sorry, I should have been a bit more clearer on that guys.

[QUOTE=Ruzza;40007611]I got Windows 7 free with an MSDN key that my school gave to all students in my course for free. Sorry, I should have been a bit more clearer on that guys.[/QUOTE] yeah free $200 os, how greedy >:C

so what causes nearly everything in Australia to be priced so dramatically higher than other countries again? Like I never actually figured out why.

[quote]said customers who did not approve of their software prices would buy software elsewhere.[/quote] Australia, as it turns out, is an island. I don't live there, but i'd wager getting anything physical/digital from places overseas is kind of hard in terms of convenience. you'd kinda feel forced to pay these prices, cause you can't just drive elsewhere to pick whatever up. companies know this, but it seems like they pass it off on things like high minimum wage and the sort all too often.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;40007806]so what causes nearly everything in Australia to be priced so dramatically higher than other countries again? Like I never actually figured out why.[/QUOTE] Greed. A good example (that pissed me off) was Fallout New Vegas, the AU price matched the US price exactly, up until the point when the AU dollar reached parity with the US dollar, overnight the product went from $49.95 to $99.90.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;40007806]so what causes nearly everything in Australia to be priced so dramatically higher than other countries again? Like I never actually figured out why.[/QUOTE] The cost of living bullshit, yes everyone here gets a good amount of pay but these companies aren't giving the consumer a fair go

[QUOTE=TheDecryptor;40008017]Greed. A good example (that pissed me off) was Fallout New Vegas, the AU price matched the US price exactly, up until the point when the AU dollar reached parity with the US dollar, overnight the product went from $49.95 to $99.90.[/QUOTE] CoD: Modern Warfare 2 is still $90 on steam(3 is still $100). I'm just using CoD as an example. There's other games on Steam that are more expensive than going to the store.

[QUOTE=The Baconator;40007806]so what causes nearly everything in Australia to be priced so dramatically higher than other countries again? Like I never actually figured out why.[/QUOTE]Because they can get away with it, essentially. There's no legitimate reason for digital purchases being so much more expensive, and shipping to Australia is no more a chore than shipping to any other distant country in the world.

They say people will vote with their wallets ? They do, but you bitch about piracy too. Stop being bi-polar Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, Etc...

Someone once described it as the 'having the nicest beaches tax'. I lived in Australia for about 6 months and while the beaches are indeed lovely there's no need for everything to be $70 apiece.

Read article to find out why prices so high in Australia. They said because Australia is a different market. I don't get it. That's a bullshit cop out answer. Australia is an English speaking, first world nation with currency as strong, if not as strong as the dollar. Australia is on par with America, yet it's being abused.

[QUOTE=cqbcat;40009045]Read article to find out why prices so high in Australia. They said because Australia is a different market. I don't get it. That's a bullshit cop out answer. Australia is an English speaking, first world nation with currency as strong, if not as strong as the dollar. Australia is on par with America, yet it's being abused.[/QUOTE] There's not much to get, they want money and they can get away with it. The stuff about it being a different market is just bullshit to hide the fact that it costs us more because they want more money.

[QUOTE] if customers didn't like it they would "vote with their wallets".[/QUOTE] why do they price their stuff higher? because obviously enough people are willing to pay those higher prices so why the fuck lower them it really doesn't take an economist to realize this, guys

[QUOTE=cyber_cam34;40009198]There's not much to get, they want money and they can get away with it. The stuff about it being a different market is just bullshit to hide the fact that it costs us more because they want more money.[/QUOTE] The stuff about it being a different market is 100% true. People will pay more for things than they will in other countries, that's a different market. The reason they pay, however, is because the initial prices were set at disparity. This is why there is a political committee on it. They better not back down either, if there is any success here prices should drop dramatically. Unfortunately the companies who do this contribute to the Australian economy and can blame any forced reduction in prices on subsequent layoffs and use that hypothetical to threaten the government to not take action. Someone is going to win. The question is, who?

[QUOTE=The Baconator;40007806]so what causes nearly everything in Australia to be priced so dramatically higher than other countries again? Like I never actually figured out why.[/QUOTE] The minimum wage in North America is +/- 10USD/h, in Australia it's +/- 20AUD/h ≈ 21USD/h

[QUOTE=Appellation;40007223]American here. We think they're shitbirds too.[/QUOTE] What country doesn't think companies like Adobe and Apple charge prices that are fucking insane?

I'm not sure what everyone's going on about with Adobe, they're a brilliant company. Photoshop is easily one of the most pirated programs out there and I've never heard them kick up a stink about it, they don't really care that much and generally for good reason, if it weren't for piracy I would never have subscribed to the Adobe Creative Cloud and I'm pretty sure a lot of people are in the same boat. Adobe is one of the few companies that recognise this. The pricing model for the suites has been in place ever since there was a huge difference in the exchange rates, and now that we're bouncing between parity, Adobe has moved to recognise this; their flagship product is exactly the same price in Australia as it is in America. [img]http://i.imgur.com/UM9Z89E.jpg[/img] Adobe are moving to the future, while Apple, Microsoft and various video game publishers are stuck in the past with archaic business models.

Steam needs to also fix their pricing, or ask why the business's such as ActiVision, feel it's right to charge more for older products for Australians. The prices in Australia for these products are released around $110, as I recall for Modern Warfare 2, when American's pay around $80-90 on release. [url]http://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs[/url]