Australians Set To Pay 50% More For Apps After Apple Price Spike
Fans of Apple products in Australia are set for a rude shock when they next log in to iTunes, with a huge increase in the cost of apps.
Recently, the Australian dollar nosedived. For a long time it was trading just over or at $1 against the U.S. dollar, which you’d have thought would have been great news for local consumers. It never truly was, however. The costs of goods in Australia remained higher than the U.S. in general, sometimes ridiculously so to the point where some global corporations – like Apple and Adobe – ended up in the courts.
Even on the App Store, where prices can be adjusted overnight, Apps remained almost 30% higher than they were in the U.S, despite our dollar being worth the same or more for the best part of two years. As of today, however, the Australian dollar only trades at 70c against the U.S. – or 30% lower. Would that not mean that – finally – the price of an app was actually accurate against the reality of the currency’s value?
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Apparently not. Apple just revealed to its developers that within 36-hours the prices of apps in Australia, Sweden and Indonesia would be changing. And for Australia, that change is quite dramatic. Here is how things will look in the lower price brackets;
US Price – Old AUS Price – New AUS Price
| $1.00 | $1.29 | $1.49 |
| $2.00 | $2.49 | $2.99 |
| $3.00 | $3.79 | $4.49 |
| $4.00 | $4.99 | $5.99 |
| $5.00 | $6.49 | $7.99 |
| $6.00 | $7.49 | $9.99 |
| $7.00 | $8.99 | $10.99 |
| $8.00 | $9.99 | $12.99 |
| $9.00 | $10.99 | $13.99 |
| $10.00 | $12.99 | $14.99 |
It’s cause for great frustration among Australian Apple consumers – many of whom recently queued up to get the iPhone 6s - as it doesn’t appear to be fair. The nation was already paying for its apps at a rate suggesting the dollar was at 70c, even though it was worth more than the U.S. dollar during that period. Now, if it wasn’t bad enough that the Australian Dollar has actually dropped to 70c, Apple has upped the price of apps in Oz as if the Australian Dollar was trading at 50c.
Do you think it’s fair? Is this something to do with taxes by the Australian government more than Apple's own doing? Is it revenge for taking Apple to court over its hardware pricing?
Why you ponder that, we suggest checking out an episode of two of Grab It for iPad in the next 36-hours before they go up; links are below.
If you are wondering who we are, we're primarily a digital magazine for the iPad focused on the coverage of indie video games. Run by the former editor of Game Informer, you'll find worldwide exclusives, but also an interactive media experience unlike any you have seen before. If you have an iPad, you should check out the free sample issue at the very least, or enjoy one of our other episodes as listed below. There is also a trailer below.
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