Apple's apps crunch to a cheaper tune at last, but not for all

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 14 July 2011 16:40

Your IT - Home IT

The day before the rumoured launch of Apple's new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, new MacBook Airs, a new Mac Mini and a new MacBook comes newly lowered pricing for iOS and Mac OS apps, finally reflecting the Aussie dollars strength - while those in the UK find prices going higher!

With Apple expected to launch updated new hardware and its brand new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system tomorrow, and if not, sometime very, very soon, Apple has chosen to start off with some adjustments to its international App Store pricing.

For Australians, who have enjoyed a very strong Australian dollar for several months now when compared to the US dollar, this means a reduction in App Store prices of up to 25%.

An easy way to instantly recognise this is in the realm of games or other apps that sell for AUD $1.19. These will now sell for AUD 99c, matching the US price of 99c.

Happily for Australians, the AUD 99c figure includes GST, while US customers in most US States need to pay some level of sales tax on top, making our App Store pricing even better value than it looks at first glance.

Prices have fallen in both the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch App Store and the Mac App Store for apps, but the same can't be said for movies, TV shows, books or music, which remain at their current prices, with Apple's hands presumably tied by the local arms of international media companies and local media companies.

The move to make apps cheaper also lowers income for developers, as they will now be receiving less money per app, but lower prices will presumably lead to even more impulse and/or considered purchases than ever.

We'll have to see what developers report, but you'd be hard pressed to find too many consumers unhappy about lower consumer prices.

Whether Apple will further lower its prices on any of its hardware tomorrow (or whenever it decides to launch some of its various new Macs) is yet to be seen, but we can always live in hope!

While Australians are enjoying some lower pricing from Apple, the same can't be said for app buyers in the UK, as reported by iTWire colleague Stephen Withers earlier today in his article entitled 'Apple finally adjusts Australian apps store prices for A$/$US shift'.

Continued on page two, please read on!