Apple Blames High Australian Markups for Digital Content on Media Rights Holders

[vladi]

Originally Posted by Number 41

How about this:

If Australians think they're being charged too much money for something, an Australian company should start a digital music business and compete with Apple on price.

That's how the market works -- not by some bureaucrat grandstanding for votes by "going after" the big bad foreign corporation that is "price gouging" it's poor Australian citizens.

Vote with your wallets and don't support Apple -- support a local company that you believe prices more fairly.

Or, move someplace else.

Cool theory bro!

Now back in reality "teach them how to fish" doesn't really work because those who are teaching them how to fish have super fishing boats that can net 3,000 tones of fish every day. Now teach them how to build and run similar boat they will not.

All companies that claim to be multinational need to be governed strictly. If they are making one universal product using labor all over the world they need to pay their workers the same wage all over the world for same positions that need to state exactly what that position does and then their product has to cost the same on all markets. The end of the story.

Principal of free market works only if there are like three photoshop competitors in the world that compete with Adobe. Once there is only one Photoshop, one iTunes, one Windows that does not really work at all. That is called monopoly and requires special governing and monopoly holders should have special social responsibilities as well.

[rumtyum]

The GST here is 10%. We have no state sales tax and no other weird state or federal taxes. Any suggestion that our GST makes things more expensive than they are in the US is rubbish.Let's add 10% to the cost of iTunes downloads to cover Australia's GST. How can that explain a 60% mark-up for things that are downloaded from the net, involving no human agency whatsoever, no warehouse, no extras at all. And how do you explain the hardware cost discrepancy? The hardware is not shipped here from the US but from China/Taiwan/Thailand where it's manufactured and it costs no more for it to get here than it does for it to get to the US. In fact we're closer to Asia than the US is. These people - Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Google - are liars and their lies are intended to cover all sorts of shenanigans by all sorts of people, all designed to fleece the consumer and deliver bigger profits to the companies and their shareholders. It's sickening. Will we do anything about it? Probably not. The gigantic Ponzi scheme that is global capitalism depends upon the fleecing of the consumers and their eternally continued acquiescence in the marketing scams.

[iGrip]

Originally Posted by alvindarkness

That isnt what the article is saying at all.



No. The story involves Apple saying that the rate they are charging is due to media rights holders. Across the board their margins in Australia are very reasonable in comparison to other localities - except Music/Movies/TV content on iTunes (see the graph in the article). The articles point is that Music/Movies/TV media rights holders are the ones responsible for the disparity in iTunes prices in Australia versus other parts of the world.

Again - you seem to assume that Apple has no choice but to mark up its purchases by a certain minimum percentage when it resells them, so that any increase in Apple's costs will be paid by the consumer. Reality is different. Apple pays x, marks it up, and charges the consumer y. Apple has less than complete control over x. Apple has 100% total control over y.

y is the subject at hand. If you believe that Apple ha no choice in this matter, you are deluded. Apple can charge whatever it wants. The rate that Apple charges is 100% up to Apple.

----------

Originally Posted by vladi

All companies that claim to be multinational need to be governed strictly. If they are making one universal product using labor all over the world they need to pay their workers the same wage all over the world for same positions that need to state exactly what that position does and then their product has to cost the same on all markets.

Why? I see no good reason for such a rule, nor any way to enforce such a rule.

[drsmithy]

Originally Posted by cosmichobo

Yes, I just read about the Rolls Royce Ghost costing more than double by direct price comparison with the UK...

Thing is, which are you more likely to own...

There are plenty of much more mundane vehicles it applies to as well.

For example, in the UK a Volkswagen Golf R and BMW 135i are within a few hundred quid of each other (low-to-mid GBP30,000s). In Australia, the 135i is about 25 grand more expensive ($50,000ish vs $75,000ish).

Audi and Mercedes are the same.

[wbeasley]

Originally Posted by BlueParadox

Happy with the price of most music on iTunes here in Australia, but the pricing for films - and a lot of the TV shows - has me shaking my head and buying from elsewhere, unfortunately. Moreover, I hate DRM on any movie or TV episode purchase or rental.

I really wish the introduction of DRM-free music in the iTunes store was applied to the film and TV selections. I find it extremely inhibiting when I think about playing it on any non-Apple device, particularly when I can buy the DVD or Blu-Ray from a retail store, rip it, and compress it to play anywhere I want to. And often at a cheaper price than what Apple offer!!

When you can rent a movie for $2 on Tuesday, this becomes a very cost effective option

The argument about music content costing more in Australia doesn't entirely hold water: Apple pays a wholesale price per track. I think I've read somewhere it's around 7 - 10 cents per song (in the US). Now even if the whole sale price in Australia is higher, it is going to be 10 - 15 cents rather than 70 cents. No way is Apple (or any other music retailer) going to pay such high wholesale prices when they now control the music industry.

What really happened/happens with music sales is historical. US street retailers have always charged a lot less for albums. I visited once and was amazed that new release CDs cost around $10 to $12 when we paid $25 to $30 for the same thing.

Tracks and albums cost more here because there is a long history of expectation by consumers and in a pre-internet world, we didn't know how we were being ripped off. Amazon notified the world how much cheaper you could buy music and books if you waited a few weeks.

Now we all know how much we should be paying.

I believe the ripoff prices for local content are almost over: almost no one buys content from bookstores and record stores anymore. The protectionist mentality holds no weight we stores are closing or downsized their content holding. JB HiFi, Kmart, Big W all sell new release content at reduced prices now in order to compete with online sales.

Piracy and ripping have killed retail sales.

It's now time for Apple to bring down content pricing to US levels.

PS Apple at least behaved better at the hearing. It is disgusting that Adobe and Microsoft have shown local customers the contempt they did. They should have added Corel to the group: their US and Canadian pricing is almost double (or more!) in Australia when downloaded from the same server (most likely). That's gouging!

[SurferPup]

Hey Mister Husic
Put a little tax on
I wanna to dance with Treasury

Do you like to polly-wally iMessage
Do you like to polly-wally iMessage
Do you like to polly-wally iMessage
Do you like my Acid GST

Hey Mister Husic
Put a little tax on
I wanna to dance with Treasury
And when the rhetoric starts
I never want to shut up
It's gonna drive you crazy

Husic

Husic makes the Aussies buy overseas
[Never gonna stop]
Husic makes the draconian rules and excises
[Never gonna stop]

Don't think of free enterprise
And don't look at the iMac price
I like polly-wally speak Siri, uh-uh
It's like riding the inflation wave
And it never goes down
Charge every iOS device I'm on
Got to tax Apple everyday

[cosmichobo]

Originally Posted by drsmithy

There are plenty of much more mundane vehicles it applies to as well.

For example, in the UK a Volkswagen Golf R and BMW 135i are within a few hundred quid of each other (low-to-mid GBP30,000s). In Australia, the 135i is about 25 grand more expensive ($50,000ish vs $75,000ish).

Audi and Mercedes are the same.

Just from a quick squiz...

The Golf R starts around £28,000, but whilst the cheapest BMW 135i is indeed only around £30,000, the higher models go up to £37,000+, and at that level would incur Australia's Luxury Car Tax. As they no doubt wouldn't want one version of the car to sell for AU$43,000, and the higher end to sell for $71,000 (inc LCT), they inflate the lower end vehicle's costs to keep them in the same ball-park... (??? Guesswork here, but logical to me)

This doesn't explain the Rolls Royce Ghost...

[hektor5wolf]

Originally Posted by a0me

Not sure what you're trying to do here but if you're happy to pay ¥250 ($2.70) in the Japanese store for a track that sells for $1.29 in the US store, good for you.
The price difference can't be attributed to local taxes (5% in Japan), localization costs (the song file you get is 100% identical to the US one) or even exchange rates (a few months ago, ¥250 was worth $3.20; if anything, $2.70 is not as bad as it use to be).

Well...if I only spend time in Japan how the heck would I know the pricing for songs in the US? LOL (is not that I'm happy to pay for this price!)

[a0me]

Originally Posted by hektor5wolf

Well...if I only spend time in Japan how the heck would I know the pricing for songs in the US? LOL (is not that I'm happy to pay for this price!)

By checking on Apple's website or simply changing countries in the iTunes Store?

[vladi]

Originally Posted by iGrip

Again - you seem to assume that Apple has no choice but to mark up its purchases by a certain minimum percentage when it resells them, so that any increase in Apple's costs will be paid by the consumer. Reality is different. Apple pays x, marks it up, and charges the consumer y. Apple has less than complete control over x. Apple has 100% total control over y.

y is the subject at hand. If you believe that Apple ha no choice in this matter, you are deluded. Apple can charge whatever it wants. The rate that Apple charges is 100% up to Apple.

----------



Why? I see no good reason for such a rule, nor any way to enforce such a rule.

Point being is that they wanted to do business without borders but then they imply those same borders on a consumers for a product that is made without regional border restrictions.

There is a always a way to enforce such a rule but there is no will power. In a hundred years down the road once people hit pit bottom due to corporatism things will change but something new will emerge I don't doubt that at all.

[drsmithy]

Originally Posted by cosmichobo

Just from a quick squiz...

The Golf R starts around £28,000, but whilst the cheapest BMW 135i is indeed only around £30,000, the higher models go up to £37,000+, and at that level would incur Australia's Luxury Car Tax. As they no doubt wouldn't want one version of the car to sell for AU$43,000, and the higher end to sell for $71,000 (inc LCT), they inflate the lower end vehicle's costs to keep them in the same ball-park... (??? Guesswork here, but logical to me)

The LCT only applies on the difference between the threshold and the RRP, not the whole cost.

The LCT doesn't come within a bull's roar of making up the difference.

[iGrip]

Originally Posted by vladi

Point being is that they wanted to do business without borders but then they imply those same borders on a consumers for a product that is made without regional border restrictions.

There is a always a way to enforce such a rule but there is no will power. In a hundred years down the road once people hit pit bottom due to corporatism things will change but something new will emerge I don't doubt that at all.

You have still given no good reason for uch a rule.

[hektor5wolf]

Originally Posted by a0me

By checking on Apple's website or simply changing countries in the iTunes Store?

Image

I spent most of my childhood in Japan! I couldn't care less about other countries price Most people don't even bother to look up about it...Anyway, thanks for the info

[a0me]

Originally Posted by hektor5wolf

I spent most of my childhood in Japan! I couldn't care less about other countries price Most people don't even bother to look up about it...Anyway, thanks for the info

The whole article is about price differences between countries. Why are you posting if you don't care about the topic at hand?
And frankly, I seriously doubt that *most* people don't check prices before buying.

[hektor5wolf]

Originally Posted by a0me

The whole article is about price differences between countries. Why are you posting if you don't care about the topic at hand?
And frankly, I seriously doubt that *most* people don't check prices before buying.

Most people don't compare prices between different countries. I never heard someone in Japan complain about the US prices being cheaper than Japan. That's why I commented saying I was surprised to hear about it