You want to know the real reason prices are so much higher in other countries? It has to do with historical exchange rates and companies not adjusting prices when the exchange rate improve in their favor.
Let's look back 10 years ago. Around 10 years ago AU$1 was worth about US$0.60. So, at the time if the US version sold for US$2500 you would need to sell the Australian version for about AU$4166 (before any tax difference) to make the same US$2500.
Now, fast forward 10 years. Over this period Australians have become used to paying about AU$4k for the product but in the background the exchange rate continued to improve in favor of the AU$, to the point where today were the two currencies are worth about the same (AU$ are actually worth slightly more now). BUT because Australians are used to paying the price, there has never been any incentive for Adobe to reduce the price. The same applies for video games, or just about anything else on the market.
Now, I'm not defending Adobe, but from a business perspective I can understand how this happened. You have an exchange rate that slowly creeps up over 10 years. You don't see sales dropping, so why reduce your price, right? This is now the predicament they're in, they kept the price steady and now they have to pay the price with media attention. So, what t
Had this been the other way, and the exchange rate declined for the AU$, you can be damn sure Adobe would have taken corrective price action.
Come on, if you covered up the HP logo on that thing you would have called it a iMac. That was absolutely my first thought upon seeing it.
Copying one thing, maybe two things is a coincidence, copying everything is flat out cloning a design without a lot of thought or innovations. Hell, they even copied the finishes on the metal.
Let's look back 10 years ago. Around 10 years ago AU$1 was worth about US$0.60. So, at the time if the US version sold for US$2500 you would need to sell the Australian version for about AU$4166 (before any tax difference) to make the same US$2500.
Now, fast forward 10 years. Over this period Australians have become used to paying about AU$4k for the product but in the background the exchange rate continued to improve in favor of the AU$, to the point where today were the two currencies are worth about the same (AU$ are actually worth slightly more now). BUT because Australians are used to paying the price, there has never been any incentive for Adobe to reduce the price. The same applies for video games, or just about anything else on the market.
Now, I'm not defending Adobe, but from a business perspective I can understand how this happened. You have an exchange rate that slowly creeps up over 10 years. You don't see sales dropping, so why reduce your price, right? This is now the predicament they're in, they kept the price steady and now they have to pay the price with media attention. So, what t
Had this been the other way, and the exchange rate declined for the AU$, you can be damn sure Adobe would have taken corrective price action.