Apple hikes App Store prices in Canada, Russia, New Zealand & several other countries
Reacting to fluctating currencies, Apple on Monday told developers that it will be hiking App Store prices in several countries within the next three days.
Affected regions will include Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, and South Africa, the company said in an iTunes Connect notice seen by The Next Web. Although most countries should see their prices rise by a small margin, Canadian prices are due to go up significantly.
The country's minimum app price will climb from $1.19 CAD to $1.39 CAD, for example, while apps costing $50 will leap to $69.99.
The Canadian dollar is at a historic low of just 69 cents per U.S. dollar. As recently as 2013, Canada was doing better than the U.S., but its economy has been hurt by low oil prices which stand to be exacerbated by Iran's return to the global oil market.
Apple periodically adjusts international prices for apps, hardware, and digital media. The company walks a fine line however between keeping up profits and discouraging shoppers, meaning that it will sometimes hold out on making changes if it can.
Affected regions will include Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, and South Africa, the company said in an iTunes Connect notice seen by The Next Web. Although most countries should see their prices rise by a small margin, Canadian prices are due to go up significantly.
The country's minimum app price will climb from $1.19 CAD to $1.39 CAD, for example, while apps costing $50 will leap to $69.99.
The Canadian dollar is at a historic low of just 69 cents per U.S. dollar. As recently as 2013, Canada was doing better than the U.S., but its economy has been hurt by low oil prices which stand to be exacerbated by Iran's return to the global oil market.
Apple periodically adjusts international prices for apps, hardware, and digital media. The company walks a fine line however between keeping up profits and discouraging shoppers, meaning that it will sometimes hold out on making changes if it can.
Comments
Yeah... that sounds good.
Because they don't buy stuff in USD. They buy stuff in CAD. Their salary didn't suddenly become denominated in USD so it's become more expensive, regardless of the cross rate which is irrelevant.
I'm waiting for prices to rise in AUD - we've tracked the CAD pretty closely so I suspect it's around the corner.
I'm just annoyed that through no fault of my own and due to circumstances beyond my control my purchasing power has taken a massive hit over the last two years. I don't really give a damn that Canadian exporters stand to gain from this despite what the Canadian media keeps telling me.
On the other hand, I'll be deferring a number of purchases this year, especially those that are due explicitly or implicitly due to currency fluctuations.
Unfortunately, Apple is very much a US company and the high value of the USD will eventually make exports difficult. This really is a weakness of Apple not having local ties. At some point they will price their whole ecosystem out of a variety of local markets if alternatives are available. This is very much what happened in the PC days and Mac computers were simply priced out of reach of most consumers. The result was PC clones running Windows took over the world. If the Chinese currency goes down, the USD up then the costs to Apple should be going down and they should try to stabilize currency fluctuations in their various markets. But, if they use lower costs to increase profits and dividends for the mothership so to speak then there will eventually be chaos in their various markets due to currency fluctuations.
I don't think it's wise for Canadians to rely on a product whose price is so volatile. The real question is whether there are alternatives to Apple products which are less tied to the US currency.
I agree that Apple is closely tied to the US currency. If it continues to appreciate against the Canadian currency then Canadians would be wise to move away from that ecosystem. Many people in the US have warned that the high US dollar is hurting the US and some have gone so far as to accuse China, for example, of artificially maintaining a low currency in order to benefit exports.
It's not that the Canadian dollar is worthless but rather that the US dollar is extremely high at this point. Mind you the Canadian currency has dropped against most other currencies largely because of commodity pricing, but it is against the US dollar that is seems to have dropped the most. This is not good for Apple in Canada as the country would be foolish to rely so heavily on communication products which are tied so closely to a currency that is soaring. It's time for Canadians to take a serious look at their affection for Apple products. Unfortunately, it would probably be safer buying in to an ecosystem that was not so heavily dominated by the US. There is a reason why Windows ran on most computers worldwide. It certainly wasn't because the users wanted it. The same thing might very well happen to iOS and I suppose the platform that would benefit would be Android or open versions of that.
With UEFI, I haven't checked to see how easy it is to install Linux on commodity hardware nowadays but my experiences with installing FreeBSD on a recently sold HP desktop were painful and ultimately unsuccessful, and I work in IT.
Ultimately, currencies go up and go down. Oil prices can't stay this low forever, nor the perception that the U.S. economy is doing unusually well, especially if one of the renegades gets into the White House. I'll just postpone my Apple purchases until then.
No one knows what will happen with the currency. You can't move a whole country to an alternative by decree. People and organizations decide what is good for them. We aren't talking a few dollars and your analysis that other solutions are terrible is not shared by all.
At this time it would be wise for many to move away from Apple. I don't feel it's a temporary solution and Apple is tied to the USD with local sales in various countries benefitting the main company. I am not blaming Apple. They are a great American company. Unfortunately, Canada has to try to lessen its economic subservience with the US especially with the current, and probably future, political leadership that has treated Canada in a rather shabby way.
Currencies does go up and done but this has been happening in strange ways and Canada is hurting because of it. The country should not lose out because the distributors have to go through a US distributor as opposed to getting products from countries directly, especially countries where the currencies are very constant with respect to each other.
Unfortunately, you have had a US government that has been very negative towards Canada for almost eight years. That party will probably continue in power with the same policies. It's hard to predict but I hardly see the CDN $ improving with respect to the USD, partly because of oil and the extremely negative and biased propaganda put out by the US government against Canada and in fact by a very large numbers of Canadians.
It's not with any great pleasure that I have come to these views. I love Apple products and have a special tie to the US, always have. I never thought I would think this but I think it is critical that Canada look elsewhere for stronger economic and other ties. The US has not been a friend to Canada for eight years and it's unlikely to be one for the next four, unless a reasonable renegade manages to win and that is unlikely given that a reasonable one might not even win their own party no nomination. It's very sad. The relationship between the two countries is at the lowest I have seen it since the Diefenbaker days, and even then the government was criticized for the Diefenbuck ( a 92 cent dollar).
I'm not sure what this anti-Canadian propaganda is you speak of since I don't see it. Again, this has nothing to do with the value of CAD.
Unless somebody comes up with the following made-in-Canada alternatives we'll be totally dependent on the U.S. for our IT needs:
Let's face it. It all started going downhill for Canadian tech after the Avro Arrow was torpedoed by the Diefenbaker government.
Speaking of Diefenbaker and the Diefendollar, you're talking about an era in which currencies weren't allowed to float. The Diefendollar was the result of a devaluation: a policy decision by the PC government that helped get them thrown out of office.