Aperture: the great international rip-off

[tashley]

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SO I just finally saw the upgrade on the Apple store's UK iteration. At current exchange rates, it's $127.45 which is, errrrr, 28.7% higher than for US customers.

 

Since I intended to purchase via download, they can hardly blame shipping costs.

 

If, at the end of the thirty day trial, I decide to upgrade, I will try to do so via the US apple store at US prices and if I can't then I'll cut my nose of to spite my face. Lightroom is still looking better in most respects anyway, and I personally am fed up with being skinned by Apple. And to think, I originally switched cos I was fed up with Microsoft. Doh.

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[stunsworth]

SO I just finally saw the upgrade on the Apple store's UK iteration. At current exchange rates, it's $127.45 which is, errrrr, 28.7% higher than for US

 

Remember that EU prices will have had VAT added, 17.5% in the UK, higher elsewhere.

[philipotto]

Tim,

 

The upgrade price for the UK and the US store is half of the full.

[tashley]

Thanks Phil and Steve: but I think my point remains. Even adjusting for tax, the download is still significantly more expensive in the UK, whatever its price point relative to the full product license and despite the fact that the delivery cost is the same.

[carstenw]

I don't know what you hope to prove by buying Lightroom. It costs $299 in the States, and $337 in the U.K., without VAT included. Photoshop is even more ridiculous, costing nearly double, average street price. Apple's prices are too high for Europe, but compared to most other companies, they are well in line. I am a Lightroom user, btw.

[gIzzE]

What about if you live in say NJ, add sales tax of 7% which brings it to $214, then what if in 6 months we are down to $1.60 to the £??

 

Then we a back with the UK being cheaper, the weak dollar is making things look alot cheaper over there at the moment, but that could all change quite quickly.

[gIzzE]

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I just want to add, if the dollar was a $1.60 to the £ then no doubt we would probably be paying £150 for Aperture 2! We always get stung.

[Guest user9293]

it's the cheap american payback for a solid Euro. Phase One takes 429,-- US$ for the upgrade - from germany I have to pay 429,-- € - actually 627,20 US$

 

....therefor I will have cheap holidays in summer at Cape Cod

[ceflynn]

Phase One is a Danish company, Phase One A/S.

[Guest user9293]

Ups - why do they sell it so much cheaper in the states?

[wattsy]

I will try to do so via the US apple store at US prices and if I can't then I'll cut my nose of to spite my face.

 

The difference is less than a fiver at current exchange rates (USD 99 v.GBP 55 ex. VAT). You can hardly blame Apple for the UK government's VAT policy.

 

Sorry Tim, but the difference doesn't seem to be worth getting excited about.

[JHAG]

In any case, Tim, when you download, you're directed to your country's or area's website, at least with Apple and Adobe. To do so, you should be able to download from a US URL.

 

In fact, Apple has a continental warranty (even if here, it's software), so Apple gear bought in the US won't be eligible to an Apple Care in the UE.

[tashley]

The difference is less than a fiver at current exchange rates (USD 99 v.GBP 55 ex. VAT). You can hardly blame Apple for the UK government's VAT policy.

 

Sorry Tim, but the difference doesn't seem to be worth getting excited about.

 

Ian, that's still about ten percente extra for nothing different. They finessed you perfectly: they added enough to make a healthy extra margin, without it being quite enough to tee you off. That's good business sense on their side, as long as everyone reacts like you!

[pastor_chuck]

Gentlemen,

 

It is terrible what you are being asked to pay for EVERYTHING. With or without exchange rate fluctuations European goods here in the US are significantly cheaper than they are in Europe. Being involved in international trade I can assure you it is a combination of factors ... multiple layers of taxes that US citizens don't see, Distribution agreements that limit competition in some countries, national laws controlling those distribution rights to protect local companies against intra-European competition and non-European competition, and of course unequal pricing at the wholesale level because of what "the market will endure."

 

We, as consumers, need to decide if the benefits (social and business) we derive really justify the differences. If they (the benefits) don't we need to clear away all of the excuses, identify the real causes, and demand they be addressed.

 

As an Apple User I always like to complain about their prices. But I like the products and pay the difference (even in the US Apple products tend to cost a little more than Windows stuff- but I think they are often better value).

 

Just my two cents. pastor_chuck

[tashley]

Gentlemen,

 

 

 

Just my two cents. pastor_chuck

 

that's 2.54 cents over here!

 

;-)

[Guest Robert Belasario]

Indeed it has to do with all sorts of import and export regulations. Having family in the US helps a lot. Working for a US company in Europe and having family in the US working for the same company helps more.

 

I buy most my stuff in the US and have it shipped through internal mail, might be against the law but saves up to 40%. Just take the latest iPod Touch for instance.... Adobe CS3, Canon 40D and not to speak of the lenses .... I have been doing this for years now even with normal exchange rates its lucrative, with the current exchange rates its like playing the lottery and winning....