A lot of comments about how this is designed to make it fair... To me it depends on what you mean by fair. Here all we are seeing is prices being pegged to the dollar so that everyone pays the same (roughly) in dollars, regardless of their currency, or what the purchasing power of that currency.
But obviously when currencies appreciate or depreciate, people don't suddenly become wealthier or poorer (unless they are paid in another currency). Whether something is expensive or not needs comparison with other comparable or substitutional goods locally... in some countries a dollar will buy you a lot more than a throwaway app.
In countries where prices have gone up, such as in the UK, they have simply gone up, regardless of the dollar, and demand may be affected, particularly on the low-value impulse buys. Will be interesting to see.
So this is 'fair' - but mainly fo developers, and more importantly to Apple. Perhaps we need an Apple Marc index alongside the 'Big Mac index'
and 69p isn't a comfortable price? As plenty of others have said, the dollar price at current exchange rates + VAT is actually more than 69p, so we're still getting them cheaper than our cousins across the pond
