Apple who will tomorrow launch several new products, has today slashed the price of apps, some by up to 25% in Australia, due in part to a surge in the value of the Australian dollar.
The price cut will only apply to apps and not music, books or movies Apple has said.
The prior low price of $1.19, has been slashed by 17 per cent to $0.99, while apps priced at $2.99 have been slashed 25 per cent.
The tier 3 prices are now identical to the US but they do include an additional 10% GST.
Apple has slashed the price of aps some by up to 25% in Australia due in part to a surge in the value of the Australian dollar.
The price cut will only apply to apps and not music, books or movies Apple has said.
The prior low price of $1.19, has been slashed by 17 per cent to $0.99, while apps priced at $2.99 have been slashed 25 per cent.
The tier 3 prices are now identical to the US but they do include an additional 10% GST.
The cut follows mounting critisim of Apple Australia on forums or selling price inflated products in Australia compared to the US.
Mat Peterson, who sells several apps through his Sydney firm, The Little App Factory, told Fairfax Media that the changes allowed Australians to “receive the price parity they deserve”.
“In actual fact, we have a better deal than the US as the 99c app price includes GST. Without GST, we would be approximately 90c, which is obviously 10% below the US when our exchange rate is only 7% above them,” said Peterson.
His latest app, Tagalicious, which promises to clean up users’ music collections, was hit with an automatic price change overnight, from $12.99 to $9.99.
Peterson pointed out that music and movie prices are still much higher on the Australian store than in the US, however, Apple’s hands are somewhat tied here as prices are believed to be set by the industry.
“As an example, Maroon 5s “Move like Jagger” is $1.29 in the US but $2.19 in Australia, which is stupidly high. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is $9.99 in the US but $12.99 in Australia.,” he said.
Anthony Agius, founder of the Australian Apple community site MacTalk, told the SMH that the app price changes would “make people happy, as many have complained about it for the past few months”.
