michaelab
desafinado
This isn't about the fact that IMO the price is alltogether way too high, that's a different discussion. This is about the massive disparity between US and European pricing.
Gripe number one
On the US Adobe Store site the price for the Photoshop CS2 is $649, regardless of whether it's the shrinkwrapped or downloadable version - so downloaders are subsidising the cost of packaging, materials and distribution for those who buy boxed - nice one
Gripe number two
However, if you don't live in the US you can't use the US store, you have to use the European one. There the price of both versions (download and shrinkwrap) is 689 (about $820), so Europeans are paying a $170 premium just for being in Europe , there's no extra costs for them because you download it. And that's the VAT free price - if you add VAT it comes to 833.69 (in Portugal where VAT is 21%) - but we won't bring VAT into it as that's beyond Adobe's control. FWIW the UK prices are roughly equivalent.
Gripe number three
Those prices are for the "International English" version. If I wanted the Portuguese version it would only cost 419 (506 inc VAT)...and it's only available shrink wrapped, not for download. So, the version that costs them more to make (translating everything), isn't the one anyone wants (even in Portugal) and has all the packaging and international distribution costs is the cheapest of all???
Is it any wonder that people get pirate copies when they are clearly taking people for a ride? I looked into the prices since I was seriously thinking of buying a legal copy for the first time but with these kind of phuct up pricing policies it's "bye bye" adobe store and "hello" bit torrent. Not to mention the fact that I'd be loath to pay 833 for a PowerPC Mac version only to have to pay again when the Universal binary comes out. If I'm going to pay more for Photoshop than a decent D-SLR body I might as well wait until it runs on the right processor.
Michael.
Gripe number one
On the US Adobe Store site the price for the Photoshop CS2 is $649, regardless of whether it's the shrinkwrapped or downloadable version - so downloaders are subsidising the cost of packaging, materials and distribution for those who buy boxed - nice one
Gripe number two
However, if you don't live in the US you can't use the US store, you have to use the European one. There the price of both versions (download and shrinkwrap) is 689 (about $820), so Europeans are paying a $170 premium just for being in Europe , there's no extra costs for them because you download it. And that's the VAT free price - if you add VAT it comes to 833.69 (in Portugal where VAT is 21%) - but we won't bring VAT into it as that's beyond Adobe's control. FWIW the UK prices are roughly equivalent.
Gripe number three
Those prices are for the "International English" version. If I wanted the Portuguese version it would only cost 419 (506 inc VAT)...and it's only available shrink wrapped, not for download. So, the version that costs them more to make (translating everything), isn't the one anyone wants (even in Portugal) and has all the packaging and international distribution costs is the cheapest of all???
Is it any wonder that people get pirate copies when they are clearly taking people for a ride? I looked into the prices since I was seriously thinking of buying a legal copy for the first time but with these kind of phuct up pricing policies it's "bye bye" adobe store and "hello" bit torrent. Not to mention the fact that I'd be loath to pay 833 for a PowerPC Mac version only to have to pay again when the Universal binary comes out. If I'm going to pay more for Photoshop than a decent D-SLR body I might as well wait until it runs on the right processor.
Michael.