Adobe defends Aussie CS4 price hike

By Renai LeMay and Craig Simms on 25 September 2008

Global software giant Adobe has defended recommending local prices for its new Creative Suite 4 software packages that could see Australians paying hundreds of dollars more in real terms than US residents for the same products.

Adobe CS4

(Credit: Adobe)

The CS4 suite, slated to make it onto local shelves in October, represents Adobe's latest update to its flagship software packages, including Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Soundbooth and more. The software packages are widely used in Australia's creative industries.

The local price hikes, for example, will see Adobe recommending an "estimated sale price" for Photoshop CS4 of AU$1,249, with the extended edition of the software going for AU$1,799.

The US prices are US$699 and US$999, which convert to approximately AU$834 and AU$1,192 at current exchange rates, making it more attractive to buy the software from US-based resellers and then import it to Australia, or to simply download it online from Adobe's US software store.

Australians were also slugged with estimated prices close to 40 per cent more than those in the US for Adobe Acrobat 9 when it was released several months ago, although the issue was worse in the UK, where buyers expected to pay twice as much.

But Adobe's country manager of its Pacific region, Peter McAlpine, said the "estimated sale prices" didn't necessarily represent local street pricing as the software giant in Australia had a very strong focus on working with partners to distribute its products.

"Frankly you don't have a dog and bark as well. Really the best principles are, you don't compete head on with your reseller channel," he told ZDNet.com.au yesterday.

"What I'd encourage you to do is go and look at some of the plethora of websites out there where you can buy the Adobe software online in Australia," he added. "You'll find the price is more than competitive."

Customers can buy Adobe software locally through the company directly, but McAlpine said the aggressive channel pricing, with some partners bundling value-added services on to the software, would see the majority of business done through the channel rather than through Adobe directly.

The lowest retail price for Photoshop CS4 listed on staticice.com.au, which aggregates retail software and hardware prices from dozens of online retailers around Australia, was AU$1,095.05, from instantit.com.au. The extended edition could be had for AU$1,564.53 from the same retailer.

However, US prices were still cheaper than the local ones; US-based retailer Amazon.com today had Photoshop CS4 listed for US$689.99.

Mark-ups on software and hardware pricing has remained a long-term practice for international firms bringing technology products into Australia, as has timing, with most products making it to Australia a substantial period of time after they hit the US, Europe, and sometimes parts of Asia.

For example, despite US-based carrier T-mobile launching the Google Android-based G1 handset overnight, with Europe to get the device in early 2009, no Australian carrier or phone manufacturer could yesterday say when, if ever, Australians would be able to buy a handset based on the new mobile operating system.

Topics: adobe, cs4, dreamweaver, photoshop, software, price, australia, software packages, local, retailer

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Comments (7)

  • Smarter than Peter commented on 26/09/2008 22:48

    Adobe's country manager of its Pacific region, Peter McAlpine is pretty dumb to think people listen to his lame explanation and think "Oh yeah, good point Peter!"

  • Annoyed commented on 26/09/2008 09:43

    What most people dont like is that we get products 6 or 12 months later than the US, and get slugged up to 100% more for the privilege.

    Whether or not you can negotiate a better price is irrelevant - the base price is the only basis for comparison.

    More and more I'm finding myself buying direct from the US, or getting colleagues to buy a product and forward it to me.

    I've yet to be hit for a higher cost that way, and its not the way we should be accessing new products.

  • trrrrent commented on 26/09/2008 00:20

    they also need a much more affordable package for the average person, these days everyone can use photoshop to some degree, but while it costs that much, people will keep getting it from other sources that cost nothing.........

  • jimmy_bish commented on 25/09/2008 23:51

    You guys obviously haven't seen some of the other professional software packages available. People pay 10's of thousands of dollars on a decent computer program which would be the core of their business. People can base their whole business off this one products.

    That being said, we pay nearly double the US price for video games, so it's about time the rest of the software industry caught onto the con.

  • tim commented on 25/09/2008 22:58

    this is a rort, really. especially for something like software, where there is no possible associated cost with shipping the products from overseas. automobiles, i can expect and handle a realistic price increase, but software? i mean, come on.

  • canberra_photographer commented on 25/09/2008 22:40

    There's no denying Creative Suite is expensive, it always has being. But seriously, who buys the full version off the shelf? No one I know. Those in the know will buy the academic or student versions if they can which can save heaps and those who aren't eligible for academic pricing will deal direct with Adobe for special pricing through licencing. I spoke directly to the Adobe and was able to get Master Collection CS3 for just $1450. With any product, you need to know how to get the good price because these corporations certainly won't offer it up on the shelf.

  • Lazymonkey44 commented on 25/09/2008 18:18

    These prices are pathetic! How is someone interested in Multimedia production or design meant to get started with some good software, the "elements" versions of their software are nothing like the CS stuff. They should either lower the prices here & overseas drastically or make a middle-ground version.

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