blog Federal Labor MP Ed Husic has been putting the screws on Apple a fair bit over the past year or two with respect to the difference between its Australian and US prices, so it’s no real surprise that the company has decided to engage with the IT price hike inquiry which Husic is spearheading and which is shortly to kick off hearings. But, as per usual Cupertino style, Apple doesn’t want the public involved, and has pressured MPs into a private, closed door hearing on the matter. The Financial Review reports (we recommend you click here for the full article):

“The Australian Financial Review can also reveal that the world’s richest company, Apple, has decided against providing a public submission by deadline, and has instead been granted a closed-door hearing with federal politicians in Canberra today.”

Now, we can understand why the MPs on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications, which is holding the hearings, have agreed to closed door talks with Apple on the price hike issue; we suspect, knowing its extreme penchant for corporate secrecy, that Apple gave them a choice of closed door hearings or nothing; it just wouldn’t do, would it, for the public to know precisely how Apple accounts for its Australian markups. Quelle embarassment, for Apple to open up the iron kimono that far.

However, for our part, we wish the Committee had rejected Apple’s application and forced the company into the public eye, like most every other company it will be taking submissions from. Apple might be one of the world’s most valuable companies, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t engage honestly and transparently with governments in the jurisdictions it operates in. The Australian public has a right to know what Apple talks about with our elected representatives. This writer in particular can feel his Freedom of Information fingers itching.

Image credit: Josh Hallett, Creative Commons

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1. Master_T
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 12:25 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Dirty tactics by a shady company.

   Spoze I cant talk! :D

2. PeterA
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 12:47 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Accidentally clicked that AFR link, hope I don’t count as ad impressions.

   I refuse to deal with institutions that don’t attempt to fact check their reporting.

3. Paul
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 1:30 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Or maybe Apple is protecting the content providers and their markups.
   The price of content is just as often set by the providers.
   For example notice that EMI charged twice the price for the Beatles box set here compared to the USA.
   Apple aren’t perfect but they aren’t the only villian.

4. Trevor
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 2:19 pm | Permalink | Reply

   This doesn’t surprise me in the least – blowing open the doors on what is essentially standard industry practice is going to embarrass a lot of wealthy Australians and their companies, not just the multinationals.

5. seven_tech
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 2:42 pm | Permalink | Reply

   No surprise. Only surprise, frankly, is that Apple are the ONLY company doing it.

   Definitely doesn’t surprise me that Apple ARE however….

6. Graeme
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 3:55 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Apple Hardware prices between Oz and the USA are now comparable (remembering GST adds 10%, and US prices you often see don’t include applicable state taxes)… 

   It’s iTunes music where it’s not, and those prices are set by music studios. Maybe that is why a closed session was requested, so Apple can confidentially put the blame on the music studios?

   In the App Store prices are pretty much the same as the US App Store.

   Outside of Apple, this last week I have been looking at PC parts between Umart (a PC parts place in Brisbane) and sellers in the USA, and they are pretty much the same +/- less than 5%. Of course if you were comparing Harvey Norman with a US store, you would see a huge difference!

   Where the enquiry should be concentrating on is TVs and audio and video gear! The price of TiVo here is 5 times the price as the USA, and we get the old model!

   • Trevor
     Posted 17/07/2012 at 10:15 pm | Permalink | Reply

     While Apple’s most recent product refresh are price comparable to the US market, for many years they weren’t, and I believe despite their recent change of heart, Australian investigators want some insights into why this was (and why they can suddenly afford to change).

     As for other brands, I can tell you our wholesale prices on many brands still maintain significant markups on US retail prices. This is particularly obvious in the cutting edge Ultrabook market, where devices are being launched apace currently, complete with very enticing pricing announcements, but when they hit Australian shores they’re nothing like the pricing they’re launched with in the US which is affecting market acceptance and takeup here as sales and even consumer interest are much slower than the US.

     • seven_tech
       Posted 17/07/2012 at 10:21 pm | Permalink | Reply

       @Trevor

       “. This is particularly obvious in the cutting edge Ultrabook market, where devices are being launched apace currently, complete with very enticing pricing announcements, but when they hit Australian shores they’re nothing like the pricing they’re launched with in the US which is affecting market acceptance and takeup here as sales and even consumer interest are much slower than the US.”

       Hear hear. I was looking at an Ultrabook, probably a Samsung 9 Series, or maybe one of the new Asus’, cause I’ve been looking at the reviews on Engadget…..then I saw the Australian prices:

       http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001641577/1715845552_tn_memes_no_face_of_course_not_answer_2_xlarge.jpeg

       Get real! I’m not paying $1700 for an Ultrabook just cause I want 8Gb of RAM and boot drive SSD! I can get one for barely over $1000 in the US! I’d rather by a $1000 Asus Infinity Pad in Australia. And I wouldn’t even do THAT, seeing as it’s $699 in the US!

7. Daniel Myles
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 5:45 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Not surprised at all.

8. JP
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 6:54 pm | Permalink | Reply

   Well, everyone knows that Apple has a higher markup than others, but the same would apply to their US market. One of the major reasons for higher Aus prices could be the expensive overheads in Australia. Labour, rates & taxes and almost everything required to run and support a business is very high here (compared to USA/Europe). Plus A us is a very small market.

9. djos
   Posted 17/07/2012 at 10:52 pm | Permalink | Reply

   I’d strongly suggest it’s the local branch of the Content MAFFIA that is mainly responsible for us getting shafted on music on movies via iTunes!!

   As has been note already, Apple have already done a lot to give us effective price parity on their HW in the last year.

10. Bruce H.
    Posted 17/07/2012 at 11:50 pm | Permalink | Reply

    I have noticed that the same old flawed arguments for the price disparity between local and foreign sourced identical products are still being peddled by the same hardware and software distributors. Since there is little manufacturing, assembly or localised code writing (for software) in this country their arguments still don’t hold up. We are sourcing the same IT hardware as the USA, UK & Europe being churned out of the same factories in China using even cheaper labour than before. In many cases the only change for our local market is an ac lead & plug to meet Australian electrical standards.

11. Goddy
    Posted 18/07/2012 at 3:45 am | Permalink | Reply

    Trust Apple to be the ones to want to sweep their bad practices under the rug. Cowards.

12. BrownieBoy
    Posted 18/07/2012 at 2:56 pm | Permalink | Reply

    Apple’s far from the biggest villaiin when it comes to US vs Australia price differentials. Microsoft for one, is a bigger rip-off for Australian customers.

    Worst of the worst is Adobe. The Creative Suite 6 Master Collection is $2,300 US on amazon.com. They want a shade under $4000 Oz for it on Adobe’s Australian web site.

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