There has been some discussion since Adobe announced their new Creative Suite 3 products on the differences in pricing for non-US countries. Adobe tells us that the pricing models for countries outside of the US are controlled by the local Adobe office to a degree.

Now I have nothing against the new Creative Suite itself. From what I have seen in the previews and demonstrations, it seems to be worth the United States upgrade price. But how does this compare to previous upgrades? How do the prices in Australia compare to the prices in the US. Are Australian's being ripped off by Adobe Australia? This is what I'm going to be examining here in detail.

A quick comparison of the recommend retail pricing in Australia versus the US is given below.

Yes I'm focusing on the web premium package, mainly because this is the package that I'm interested in.

Looking at the figures above, Australian's are paying a 25-30% price increase for the same software sold in the US. Now I know the product has to be shipped, but I can bet that it's not really coming from the US, but a pressing plant in China or the equivalent. So why are us mugs in Australia having to pay the price increase for the same software. And don't tell me it's for local customisation. Should we have to pay for this price difference?

We need to send a message to Adobe Australia to stop being greedy with the local designers and developers. Wake up Adobe Australia, you are in control of the pricing, at least give the local industry and break and do a loyalty early upgrade discount marketing campaign.

If you could purchase and download the software from the Adobe Store (not that I have tried this one), then certainly that would be the way to go. Mind you, to do so you would have to register the account in the online store as being in the US, and I you will be breaching the licensing agreement. And if you can't download it and have to ship the disks, you will be slugged for GST and import fees. Still all things considered this pricing is just not on. Has anyone considered the Australia-US free trade agreement.

Price the products too high and the Web Industry will find alternatives. Look at the Microsoft alternatives MS-Expression, okay the product is a little immature, but it's shaping up as an alterative development suite, which is good as it gives us back a competitive market.

Also the debate has moved into the upgrade prices and their value for money. Clearly from the table below it is value for money if you consider it versus the purchasing of separate items, but it's always been this way, hasn't it. That's why these software suites always sell well.

But how do the upgrade prices compare to previous versions.

Is the current (CS3) upgrade prices good value for money?

Well if you consider the matrix above the pricing points are very similar. The exceptions being for Photoshop and Illustrator, but if you consider the level of feature improvement and changes from the previous versions these prices aren't too bad.

Now I do agree it would be nice if Adobe had allowed an upgrade path for Photoshop, Illustrator AND Studio as an item. But sadly there is only three pricing points; separate products, Studio or Creative Suite. This could have been handled a little better with maybe another pricing tier being present. I have attempted via several communication mediums to contact Adobe to get an answer on this, but as expected they are silent.

What do you think; should here be a third middle tier on the pricing? Is the software priced too high in comparison to the US price?

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