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Apple today informed developers that App Store price tiers, including in-app purchases, will be rising in Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore and South Africa within 72 hours (via The Next Web).
In Canada, for example, Tier 1 pricing will increase to $1.39, a 20-cent rise over current $1.19 pricing. That means a $1 app on the U.S. App Store will now sell for $1.39 on the Canadian App Store.
Apple has published a PDF document with a complete list of new pricing updates in all seven countries. The price changes are in line with fluctuating foreign currency exchange rates against the U.S. dollar.
Apple will email customers with in-app subscriptions in Canada, New Zealand, Mexico and Singapore shortly before their existing subscription renews to inform them about the price increase and the option to cancel their subscription.
App Store customers in Russia and South Africa will need to manually resubscribe at the new prices. Israel will not be affected, as Apple does not offer auto-renewal subscriptions in that country.
Apple is also expanding its low-price tiers Alternate Tier A and Alternate Tier B to Canada and New Zealand, both valued at 99 cents in local dollars. These tiers are often used for smaller in-app purchases.
Last, VAT has dropped from 24% to 20% in Romania, but App Store prices have not changed in the country, meaning that local developers should begin to receive increased proceeds from app and in-app purchases.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Jesus ****ing christ Apple, can you stop constantly raising prices in non-US countries? I know that the Canadian dollar sucks right now, but you have HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars and you can't accept losing a few pennies? Goddamn idiots! :mad:
I guess the concept of exchange rates is lost on you? Why is it Apple's job to subsidize Canada's economy and their fiscal decisions?omg seriously. i wish the next iPhone would flop (it wont) to get them back down to earth from their high horse a little
When did Apple set Canadian, Russian, and other such monetary policy, and what would their iPhone sales do to affect it? Or are you claiming that Apple somehow sets these policies for sovereign nations in completely separate continents based on app prices?EDIT: Everyone who replied to my post completely missed my point. The Canadian dollar is decreasing every day, which hurts everyone except people who get paid in USD or Americans who shop in Canada. Apple increases the price of all their products to reflect the horrible rate, which hurts us even more, so of course I'm pissed. And some of you will say, "well uh consider urself lucky cuz its cheper 4 u", and to that I hope you realise that our salaries don't increase, so... :rolleyes:
Jesus ****ing christ Apple, can you stop constantly raising prices in non-US countries? I know that the Canadian dollar sucks right now, but you have HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars and you can't accept losing a few pennies? Goddamn idiots! :mad:
The raise is mostly for developers as we are seeing less earnings selling internationally due to currency exchanges. Apple will inevidently benefit from this since they do take a 30% cut. But we can't really expect them to compensate for the currency changes from their own pockets. Or lets just keep it the same and developers can start applying for unemployment benefits because users are so cheap these days. No one wants to pay even a few dollars for apps these days but go buy $7 frappe mocha latte chai crap.omg seriously. i wish the next iPhone would flop (it wont) to get them back down to earth from their high horse a little
See my comment above. My advice don't judge or make a comment without a good understanding. It's either they adjust rates to reflect exchanges or they compensate for it from their own pockets or keep it the same and let developers earn less than the pennies they earn today.What bull****, everything costs more in Canada. Hey US citizens, would you pay $45 for a 24 of beer, I think not.
You need a lesson in basic economics/finance.$1 USD = $1.45 CAD.
So as a matter of fact, with their $1.39 CAD rate you are actually paying LESS than your US counterpart.
Except in this case, he would find out that it's actually more expensive to do so. Even post-adjustment, apps are still cheaper in Canada than in the US (1.39 CAD = 0.95 USD). And that's even before considering your bank will keep a commission for the CAD>USD exchange.
So yeah, angry Canadians should stop complaining about this. We're lucky price hasn't been set to $1.49 or more.
Except they're always quick to raise the price but slow to bring it back down.
As also stated below, they actually should have raised the prices for these markets a while ago. But I personally think they actually wait for the market to bottom and stabilize before adjusting. I expect them to do the same going in the other direction. Though I would love it as a developer if they were more responsive. I lose a lot waiting for them to adjust.The CDN/US dollar started tanking almost a year ago... In January 2015 a $1CAD was $US0.80, so app prices should have started rising to C$1.25.
Even with yesterday's exchange at $US0.688, app prices should be C$1.45.
If you want to gripe about something try the magazine industry where Canadian mags cost 60% more than the same US mag for decades, but the prices were not corrected even when the currencies were on par.
I hope once the dollar weakens Apple lowers their prices accordingly.
Yeah, it would be cool if the prices automatically adjusted daily based on the FOREX market.
That would be a good idea, though the implementation might not be feasible. But given the fact that these currencies have been going down for a while, it would be nice if they reacted quicker. It seems they really wait until it bottomed and stabilized before taking action.That $8B fine will have to paid for somehow……..
Jiminy ****ing Cricket garirry!!! How the hell do you expect us to pay that $8 billion dollar bar tab in the EU? - Apple
When they have 200B+ parked, they don't need the 30% cut of a few billions to pay that./s:p