DailyTech - Update: Adobe CEO Dodges Questions on Overpricing in Australia

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Software Update: Adobe CEO Dodges Questions on Overpricing in Australia
Shane McGlaun (Blog) - February 14, 2013 2:00 PM

19 comment(s) - last by Initium.. on Feb 17 at 10:55 PM

Adobe CEO doesn't want to talk about huge Australian pricing discrepancies

A video has turned up on YouTube that shows adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen repeatedly dodging a question directly asked about Adobe's huge price discrepancies for software in Australia compared to other parts of the world. The person on the video asking the question repeatedly asks why Australians are charged as much is AU$1400 more for traditional software delivered over the internet than people in the United States.

This is a common complaint by Australian users who have long complained that they are price gouged by major companies such as Apple, Adobe, and Microsoft. In fact, pricing is such a source of contention within Australia that executives from Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple have been summoned to appear before Australian Parliament to answer questions specifically about pricing.

All three of these companies had previously refused to appear before Parliament.

In the video, the Adobe CEO continually dodges multiple questions about the Creative Suite and instead talks about Adobe's Creative Cloud offering. Adobe did recently reduce the price of its Creative Cloud subscription service from AU$62.99 to AU$49.99 matching prices in the United States.

Apparently, that price matching did not extend to people who want to purchase the Creative Suite as a download.

Updated 2/14/2013 @ 2PM EST
News.com.au reports that it's actually cheaper for Australians to purchase a roundtrip ticket from Australia to Los Angeles to obtain a U.S version of Adobe Creative Suite.

Source: YouTube

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RE: Singled out?

By Reclaimer77 on 2/14/2013 3:42:46 PM , Rating: 1

Under the gun for what exactly? Can someone define "overpricing" for me?

In my view, you can either pay the price for something or just buy something else priced better or don't buy it at all. You aren't entitled to "good prices" or paying the same as others pay.

I'm sure there is a very legitimate reason why things cost a bit more in Australia. And it's not some massive conspiracy to single the Aussies out.

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RE: Singled out?

By mike66 on 2/14/2013 4:05:23 PM , Rating: 2

Overpriced = When it's worth using a dodgey pirated copy in a professional setting because license fees are thousands of dollars per unit. Happens all the time. The only really different thing over here is the PAL video standard.

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RE: Singled out?

By InternetGeek on 2/14/2013 5:26:41 PM , Rating: 2

Completely agree that people should shop around for better prices. However, even when Australian-specific overheads are taken out of the value most of the time you end up with a 30%-80% overprice and sometimes even more than that.

IMO, The Australian Government is stepping in because of taxes and pressure from local retailing groups. A US product won't incur taxes if its valued under $1000. And because of the taxinga greement between the US and AUS, it might not incur taxes if you've already paid US taxes (i.e. VAT or Sales Tax). The local retailing groups are trying to have the government raises taxes to even the field against online retailers.

However, if you walk into any store you can see how much more expensive it is. Windows 7 Pro was selling for AU$700 (US$735) in Harvey Norman, usually the first store around the world to start selling Windows due to the time difference.

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RE: Singled out?

By jingle10 on 2/14/2013 5:31:16 PM , Rating: 4

Overpricing is when one group is charged more than another group for no justifiable reason. When Australian's are charged more than everyone else for a download, that is not justifiable. The cost of offering the downloadable content is the same for everyone, when we can click on the same link.

And no need to single out these companies, the gouging is across the board. People don't like to be taken advantage of. You can spin a whole lot of crap about Australia being so far away and it costs to send things here, in the case of physical items, but stuff made in Australia is cheaper to buy in the US even after all the export costs. Work that out.

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