Apple App Store Prices Rise in UK, India and Turkey (bbc.com) 84
Apple is to put up the price it charges for apps in the UK, India and Turkey. From a report on BBC: UK costs will numerically match those of the US, meaning that a program that costs $0.99 will now be 99p. That represents a 25% rise over the previous currency conversion, which was 79p. "Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business," it said. "These factors vary from region to region and over time." The rise will also affect in-app purchases but not subscription charges. The cost of a $0.99 app will become 80 rupees in India, representing a 33% rise from the previous price of 60 rupees.
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Funny that. Innovation also seems to have moved to the same cycle.
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Do the developers still get paid 70% with these increased prices?
I assume the percentage is the same, but, interestingly, if you are not a US developer with mainly US sales, the currency conversions Apple does further reduce this. For example I am UK based and I have a little app which sells mainly in the US, and I end up closer to 60% than 70% after the conversions. I'd tell you more precisely, but it varies a bit per month and it is hard to calculate because the reports are a bit convoluted in that part (at least they were the last time I checked, almost a year ago). I
Sounds about right (Score:5, Insightful)
With the Pound now trading [xe.com] at around $1.23, and the UK app store incorporating VAT at 20% while the US store doesn't include sales tax in the list priced, this sounds about right. Certainly the "UK premium" is nothing like the 50-100% that wasn't uncommon a decade or so ago.
Apple look simply to be pricing in the devaluation in Sterling that has occurred since the beginning of Brexit. I'm not sure anyone can find much to fault with that. The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers?
Re:Sounds about right (Score:5, Informative)
The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers?
lol. How quick is "never"?
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They will never have to make that decision. The Pound is going to be devalued a lot more than this. It's part of our transition to a third world, low cost labour economy. Basically like India but slightly better English skills and right on Europe's doorstep.
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Basically like India but slightly better English skills and right on Europe's doorstep.
We'll be a better tax haven than India too. I think the plan is something like this:
1. Destroy local industry
2. Invite companies to HQ here and pay no taxes whatsoever
3. ????
4. Profit!
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I think you give them too much credit. In May's case it's just:
1. ????
All she ever seems to say is meaningless gibberish like "Brexit means Brexit". Today we had the first hint that they know their position is extremely weak but still absolutely no hint of any kind of plan to get any of the stuff they seem to want.
The most concrete proposal we have had was from Hammond, suggesting that we remodel ourselves as a tax haven but without the nice beaches.
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The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers?
lol. How quick is "never"?
I'm not sure if he's talking about Apple reducing prices or the Pound recovering.
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They've done it multiple times already. You just don't know because Slashdot hasn't spoon-fed the information to you.
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We getting rid of Northern Ireland then? No so it's still the United Kingdom then.
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We getting rid of Northern Ireland then?
Reportedly [bbc.com] a majority of Northern Ireland voted "remain in the European Union". Once Britain exercises Article 50, I anticipate a referendum to rejoin Ireland gaining support.
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Not only Northern Ireland, take a closer look at this map [bbci.co.uk]. You might see a certain trend in a part that already had a referendum concerning the separation from Britain before, and where the main reason to stay was the fear that if they split, they might be cast out of the EU.
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Great Britain is a geographic term, the United Kingdom is a political term. Britain is synonymous with the latter, which doesn't help matters. So it doesn't matter what country or countries exist on the large island, it's name is Great Britain. Northern Ireland being in the UK or not can not affect the name of the large island :)
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Given that the only part that actually wanted to separate from the EU was England, "The British Islands" might well become nothing but a geographic term in the near future...
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Please just stop. You have no idea what you're talking about and well out of your depth.
England wasn't the only part of the UK that wanted to leave. Wales did too.
Also a significant minority of people in NI and Scotland wanted to leave.
Look at a map by constituency and you'll see the overwhelming majority of constituencies across the UK voted Leave.
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Wow. Talk about fake news [bbci.co.uk]. And from the BBC, too, I really don't know who to believe anymore!
Thanks AC for bringing us this nugget of truth.
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Talk about fake news. And from the BBC, too, I really don't know who to believe anymore!
I like how you (a) make shit up, then (b) post a link being smugly sarcastic about fake news that literally says the opposite of what you're saying.
Thanks AC for bringing us this nugget of truth.
Well indeed, it seems to be the truth that you are unable to handle given you didn't even bother looking at the link you posted. Or do you think this is fake news too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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No, of course not. This is the Wikipedia page of Wales. I do not question the existence of Wales.
What exactly is the Wikipedia article supposed to tell me? What I found out after some digging is that 12.5% of the Welsh voted UKIP in the 2016 election. That's about as much as there is to be gleamed from the Wikipedia article concerning the Brexit. And even that was something I only found in one of the links provided in the article.
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You said this:
Given that the only part that actually wanted to separate from the EU was England
You are simply flat-out wrong. Your "proof" was to show a map showing that both England and Wales voted leave.
What exactly is the Wikipedia article supposed to tell me?
That Wales exists. And that if you knew that, you wouldn't have posted a map showing that England and Wales voted leave in order to prove that only England wanted to leave.
I look forwards to you not admitting your mistake.
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So England AND Wales did want to separate. The map isn't that clear on Wales, but if you want to, fine. So Wales wanted to go, too.
The point is that the United Kingdom might not stay so united far longer.
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Kind of the point was that you can't put the great back into Great Britain by the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.
Simply put Great Britain can refer to one of two things. Firstly the largest island in the archipelago of over 6000 islands off the north west coast of Europe. Leaving or being in the EU has no effect on greatness of this Great Britain. It is the "greatest" by virtue of being the biggest of the British Isles. Noting aside that the Irish view this as a politically loaded but the reality
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So England AND Wales did want to separate.
*slow clap*
Well done, you actually sort of admitted you made a mistake claiming ONLY England wanted to go.
The map isn't that clear on Wales
It's as clear on Wales as it is on Scotland.
The point is that
The point is that you were flat out, demonstrably incorrect. It's quite entertaining seeing you forced to concecde with the minimum possible grace :)
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What the hell is your problem with me? You're the only person I know who can literally turn a molehill into a mountain for no other reason than to ... well, I don't even get the reason. So what the hell is your problem?
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You are often loud and angry. Even when you're loud and angry about something you're very very clearly wrong about, you never reply with "oh shit I was wrong", or words to that effect, you just get louder and angrier.
Try not doing that.
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Do I have to come to confession or will a "sorry, misinterpreted the map" do?
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That'll do.
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Given that the only part that actually wanted to separate from the EU was England
Wales wanted to separate as well, for some inexplicable reason.
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It's going to be confusing when Scotland is independent and Gibraltar is under joint Spanish rule. The soft borders with Scotland and Norther Ireland will be strange, presumably some kind of force field that repels immigrants but allows British citizens and select Scottish/Irish people to pass.
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So ... Airstrip One has always been part of Oceania?
Re: Sounds about right (Score:2)
Seems the same logic for Turkey and India. Prices in the US do not include the sales tax. Other countries include it. So Apple is just accommodating this policy. They are including the import and VAT taxes in the published price.
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Apple look simply to be pricing in the devaluation in Sterling that has occurred since the beginning of Brexit.
All lies! Shut up with project fear.
(this is sarcasm)
prices if/when the Pound recovers
lol.
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The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers
When the Euro was introduced, everybody used that as an excuse to raise prices . . . even in countries that didn't use the Euro! Now, prices in the EU will rise, "because of the Brexit costs, caused by the UK!" Prices in the UK will rise, "because the EU is punishing us for leaving!" So it will very convenient for all the governments: they call all blame problems on something and/or someone else beyond their control.
But folks in the UK will be wealthier! They used to have apps on their phones only wor
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With the Pound now trading [xe.com] at around $1.23, and the UK app store incorporating VAT at 20% while the US store doesn't include sales tax in the list priced, this sounds about right. Certainly the "UK premium" is nothing like the 50-100% that wasn't uncommon a decade or so ago.
Apple look simply to be pricing in the devaluation in Sterling that has occurred since the beginning of Brexit. I'm not sure anyone can find much to fault with that. The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers?
Prices tend to be sticky in terms of reduction, if simply if only customers get used to the higher prices so absent a steep decline companies tend to keep prices at the higher levels once they raise prices.
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Apple look simply to be pricing in the devaluation in Sterling that has occurred since the beginning of Brexit. I'm not sure anyone can find much to fault with that. The real question is how quickly Apple will move to reduce prices if/when the Pound recovers?
As a developer with paid apps in the store, I get an email every single time Apple changes its prices anywhere in the world. Most of the time, some prices go up, some prices go down.
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Well that just makes no sense, whatsoever.
[citation needed]
its basically charging arbirtarily different prices in different regions and pocketing the difference.
It costs different amounts of money just to do business in different regions. Why should the prices not reflect this? With their stronger consumer protection laws, it has to be more expensive to do business in the UK.
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If you really think this change has anything to do with their actual business cost, I have a bridge you may be interested in.
Oh yes, yes I think it does. I think the former pricing had nothing to do with actual business cost, but what the market would bear during the introductory period.
Re:UK costs will numerically match those of the US (Score:5, Informative)
its basically charging arbirtarily different prices in different regions and pocketing the difference. I am sure a US app maker will still get paid in USD.
As an app developer, I can correct your incorrect assumptions.
Apps on the app store come in different "price tiers" from free, to $0.99, to $1.99 etc. Apple translates these prices for countries other than the USA. Mostly this is done by multiplying or dividing by the exchange rate, adding VAT where necessary, and rounding to a nice even amount (if they calculated the correct price should be £2.04 or £1.94, then the actual price will be £1.99, for example).
When the customer pays, Apple removes the VAT which they pay to the tax office of that country, takes their 30% or 15% cut, and then converts the money into the currency of the developer, and that's the amount paid.
Apple also tries to keep the prices constant for long times - they could have done the UK change six months ago, so for six months UK citizens actually got a rebate.
The users pay a fair price - each user pays an amount so that the same money ends up in the developer's pockets. So users are not "fucked". And developers get roughly the same amount of money wherever you buy an app. Right now, developers got 20% less if you bought in the UK instead of the USA, for example, and that has now been corrected.
Re: UK costs will numerically match those of the U (Score:2)
Correction: users *are* fucked. Just not by Apple in this case.
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Wait, all this is doing is shifting VAT and taxes from the developer's burden to the purchaser?
Why the fuck did the article not say this? I already know why, because making the taxes fair would not generate outrage and clicks. I have been duped.
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No - there is no change in where the burden of taxation/VAT lies. Apple have always incorporated sales tax into app store prices.
This is a correction owing to currency devaluations.
The UK Pound is now worth about 25% less than it was six months ago when compared to the US Dollar, therefore they've corrected the GBP prices of apps to reflect the current exchange rate.
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Ok I guess I am confused. I though the article says that they are "synchronizing prices" such that a .99 USD app in the US will cost .99 GPB in the UK.
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Apps on the app store come in different "price tiers" from free, to $0.99, to $1.99 etc. Apple translates these prices for countries other than the USA. Mostly this is done by multiplying or dividing by the exchange rate, adding VAT where necessary, and rounding to a nice even amount (if they calculated the correct price should be £2.04 or £1.94, then the actual price will be £1.99, for example).
In what plane of existence is 1.99 "a nice even amount"?
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Careful, you risk summoning the appy apps guy.
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Wales was one of the most pro Brexit regions of the UK in the referendum, which might seem strange because they benefit more than most from EU grants and very few immigrants want to go there.
Scotland was strongly anti-Brexit but it's too late for them to vote to stay in the EU. If they manage to swing another Indyref, it won't be in place before we've left the EU, so they'll need to reapply.
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Wales was one of the most pro Brexit regions of the UK in the referendum, which might seem strange because they benefit more than most from EU grants and very few immigrants want to go there.
It's doubly strange. Not only do they benefit the most from the EU, but Brexit was a plan by Tories for Tories, and the obvious side effect has been to give a lot of extra power to the Tory party. Historically the Tory party has not been good to Wales.
I really don't get the mindset which concludes that giving a whole lo
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So it's a point of principle to get boned by the Tories? How did that make sense?
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This mate is why remain lost, and the pollsters, the politicians,
So, remain lost because the leavers WANTED to take sides in battle of the Toffs? Tell me, which Eton toff did you back in the fight? Johnson or Cameron? You wanted to send the politicians a message by handing them more power, specifically giving a bunch of Tory Toffs precisely what they want?
I think it's indeed fair to say I truly don't understand the mindset that it's somehow a point of principle to keep shoving even more silver spoons up th
Corporate Arrogance strikes again. (Score:1)
Numerical matching is doing nothing more than making the number 99 appear everywhere, as if currency conversions and other taxes are suddenly and magically irrelevant. I guess the only thing that's truly irrelevant is giving a shit about the impact.
Apple sure has one hell of an arrogant way of defining courage. I'd respect them a lot more if they were just honest about the change and said "Fuck You, that's why."
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It's got nothing to do with corporate arrogance and everything to do with boosting sales numbers. The ".99" thing is psychological and is connected with how the optical cortex processes the sequence of numbers we see into a value that we then equate to. Apparently, enough extra people will purchase an item priced at $x.99 instead of ${x+1}.00 than is necesssary to offset the $0.01 loss of profits, and where people are becoming aware of this marketing technique the simple trick of using .98 supposedly tricks the brain and brings the sale numbers right back up again.
"Price tiers on the App Store are set internationally on the basis of several factors, including currency exchange rates, business practices, taxes, and the cost of doing business,"
According to TFA, this has nothing to do with psychological factors of selling cheap shit to the masses. At all.
The ultimate factor driving price is demand. When you have plenty of that, you can clearly afford to be arrogant.
80 rupees? (Score:2)
That's only four red rupees. It's rather easy to get even with the wooden sword.
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LOL, I was just coming here to say that ;-)
I see (Score:2)
_That's_ why revenues soared 40% as they told us in the other article here.