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UK Apple Store price hike on all games

by Steven Williamson on 14 July 2011, 12:56

Tags: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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Apple has confirmed an immediate price rise of approximately 15% across some products on its UK App Store, which sees the lowest price games, previously available for 59p, now costing 69p.

The increase is rumoured to be caused by fluctuating exchange rates and will also affect other countries, including Mexico and Norway. There's also speculation that Apple will also be looking to increase the price of its hardware too, including the latest version of iPad.

Other price changes on the store sees some games rising from £1.79 to £1.99, which still doesn't seem a huge amount, but will it put you off making an impulse purchase?

Incidentally, the price rise doesn't apply to books, music or movies.


HEXUS Forums :: 8 Comments

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Posted by neonplanet40 - Thu 14 Jul 2011 13:29
I don't use Apple anyway. Nor Do I have anything Apple :P

Although Apple raising prices does not surprise me. Everything they sell is expensive so meh
Posted by kalniel - Thu 14 Jul 2011 13:52
neonplanet40
I don't use Apple anyway. Nor Do I have anything Apple :P

Although Apple raising prices does not surprise me. Everything they sell is expensive so meh

Well it's not so much a price rise, as not a price fall. Our currency is worth less, so prices of goods involving foreign resources go up. Same things been happening with Amazon, Steam, and plenty of non-games goods as well. Unless the providers cut their margins then our prices in GBP will rise.
Posted by scaryjim - Thu 14 Jul 2011 14:02
I have never been so amused by anything since my step-son came out with the comment “Angry Birds is FREE on Android, isn't it…?”! He was practically spitting venom.

The bottom line for me is that I simply won't impluse purchase a casual game. I'll get a free trial version, then think about buying the full game, or I simply won't bother. I assume this will eventually hit the Android Market too - although I've never worked out if the £ prices there are a direct conversion from the $ prices then rounded to the nearest 9p, or if they're specific UK prices - I suppose if they're direct conversions then this will already have been happening slowly anyway…
Posted by oolon - Thu 14 Jul 2011 14:09
So let me get it right… the pound has been RISING against the dollar for the last year… a year ago we were at 1.50 dollar = 1 pound, now we are at 1.62, so apple as decided to INCREASE the price in pounds they charge. Ok so forecast that the pound will fall (over the next year) however only as far as levels 1 year ago…. it all seems like profiteering to me. I am glad I don't own any apple product.
Posted by crossy - Thu 14 Jul 2011 14:23
scaryjim
I have never been so amused by anything since my step-son came out with the comment “Angry Birds is FREE on Android, isn't it…?”! He was practically spitting venom.
So you point out that it's “free” because you have to see the adverts, so the folks generating the ads are paying for it. Gee, aren't they nice? ;)
scaryjim
The bottom line for me is that I simply won't impluse purchase a casual game. I'll get a free trial version, then think about buying the full game, or I simply won't bother. I assume this will eventually hit the Android Market too - although I've never worked out if the £ prices there are a direct conversion from the $ prices then rounded to the nearest 9p, or if they're specific UK prices - I suppose if they're direct conversions then this will already have been happening slowly anyway…
“Trial version then full” has always struck me as the sensible way to do things too - I don't think I'd be comfortable buying a full product without the chance to try it out first (for longer than 15 minutes!). And I don't really mind if the “Trial” version is ad-supported. However, if I then pay for the “full” version I expect to lose the adverts too.

As to the pricing, no GMP is not using 1:1 on USD to GBP. As an example, the last piece of software I bought (last night actually) was quoted by the vendor as US$14.99, but the localised price was £9.45 - which means an exchange rate of US$1.58 = £1. Not bad, considering that the actual exchange rate at the time was about 1.62:1.

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