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Adobe is already cutting prices in Australia

Earlier this week the Australian Parliament issued a summons for Adobe, Apple, and Microsoft to appear before Parliament in a pricing inquiry. The problem the Australian Parliament has is that Australians were discovered to pay as much as 60% more for many technology items compared to other parts the world.

Officials wanted to directly question Adobe and other companies to find out specifically why prices were so much higher in Australia. Ahead of that official summons, software giant Adobe has cut prices on some of its products for Australian customers. Adobe has promised to cut the price of its Creative Cloud suite so local buyer shall pay the same price as consumers in the U.S.

Previously, Adobe's monthly annual subscription rate for Creative Cloud was AU$62.99 per month in Australia. Australian users will now pay AU$49.99 each month. Access to individual titles in the software suite will cost AU$19.99 monthly.

“As Adobe continues to attract membership to its cloud offerings, it is evolving its product offering to provide increased value to subscribers, including new pricing for customers in Australia and New Zealand,” the company said in a statement.

Public hearings for Adobe and other major technology firms will commence in Canberra, Australia on March 22. 

Source: AFR


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RE: Overpriced
By Solandri on 2/12/2013 4:30:12 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
I was wondering how some of the companies can get away with charging different prices in various parts of the world. For example, doesn't m$ have super low prices for their stuff in china? How could that not be considered discrimination against US users?

This is the flip side of outsourcing. If it's ok for a company to outsource jobs to a different country to lower production costs, then it's ok for me to buy software from a different country to lower my acquisition costs.

Companies have been trying to sidestep it with DRM to enforce region pricing. But in the end the two are the same thing. You cannot be simultaneously for a global economy (outsourcing) while against a global economy (region limits).


RE: Overpriced
By NellyFromMA on 2/12/2013 4:40:48 PM , Rating: 2
You nailed it.


RE: Overpriced
By roykahn on 2/12/2013 6:11:59 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
You cannot be simultaneously for a global economy (outsourcing) while against a global economy (region limits).


An excellent point that is true ideologically but not practically. Corporations simply want to maximize shareholder wealth and profits. Anything else comes a distant second. Fairness, corporate responsibility, protecting workers' rights and safety, maintaining environmental controls, paying tax at the expected level - these are often barriers to the number one objective.

In the present case, I believe it's mostly a case of charging prices as high as the demand allows. Sometimes one also hears the excuse that market X requires more costly support. For example, consumer protection law in country X may mean a product has to be refundable under many different situations or monopoly laws may mean more compliance requirements. One could even make a joke about needing to have highly-trained service personnel in Bangladesh that can understand Australian accents and sayings.

And don't you just love the official Adobe announcement regarding the price decreases. Typical PR bullcr4p.


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