Don’t Believe The Adobe Price Cut Hype, It’s Still Gouging You Silly



Late yesterday, we brought you the news that Adobe had buckled under the pressure of the Australia Tax inquiry brought on by the government and lowered local pricing to bring it more in line with US counterparts. You might thank benevolent Adobe for finally coming around to our way of thinking, but I’m here to tell you why you should be as angry with them as ever.

Yesterday, after being summoned to Parliament to explain why it has been gouging Australians for years, Adobe dropped annual subscription pricing for its Creative Cloud suite from $62.99 to $49.99 per month. Casual subscription pricing also dropped, from $94.99 to $74.99 per month.

Good news, right? Well, not exactly, because the Australia Tax lives on.

Boxed copies of Adobe’s software won’t be subject to a single price cut which is disappointing, but what can only be described as downright insulting to Australian consumers is that digitally-distributed copies of Adobe software will still subject to the astronomical mark-ups that landed the company in hot water in the first place.

Take the Creative Suite Master Collection, for example. A quick price comparison between Adobe’s US and Australian online stores shows a deplorable price disparity of $1735. Almost $2000 difference on a piece of software distributed through an online store. It’s still cheaper to fly from here in Sydney to Los Angeles, buy it there, and come home. By doing that I’d save $601, and I’d get Virgin Australia frequent flyer points, too.

Adobe wants to be praised for listening to ordinary Australians by dropping Creative Cloud pricing. I don’t think so.

Adobe’s concession to the Australia Tax inquiry is tantamount to a child making a promise with his fingers crossed behind his back: deceitful and immature. Keep shedding those prices, Adobe. Then we’ll talk.