UPDATED: Adobe charges 50% premium for UK Creative Suite

Posted on 13 Apr 2010 at 11:51, by Simon Aughton

While the company is charging US $2,599 — £1,692 — for the Master Collection containing all the new software, UK buyers must pay £2,303, 36% more (all quoted prices are exclusive of any tax).

Similarly a single copy of Photoshop CS5 costs $699 — £455 — in the US, but £548 in the UK, an increase of 20%.

But when it comes to upgrade pricing, the difference is staggering. To upgrade from any CS 2,3,4 or 5 edition to the Master Collection US users must pay $1,299 — £845; UK users must pay £1,270 — 50% more.

The discrepancy is even higher in other EU countries.

David Gingell, senior European marketing director for Adobe, said that the company sets prices on a regional basis taking in to account local market conditions, such as cost of doing business.

?€The cost of doing business in UK and Europe is significantly higher per unit of revenue earned than it is in North America. For example, in a large homogenous market like North America, we can achieve certain economies of scale that affect pricing. In the European Union, by contrast, we must support two major currencies, diverse regional market situations and 15 languages, all of which results in higher costs.?€

He said that Adobe has approximately 1.5 times as many field employees in Europe as in North America but revenues per employee are smaller, resulting in costs per unit of revenue that are about twice as high in Europe as in North America.

Meanwhile some erstwhile Photoshop users are clearly voting with their wallets. Saulius Dailide, co-founder of the Pixelmator image editor, revealed that sales of the application increase 40% during Adobe announcements.

“It looks like a protest against Big Brother’s [Adobe’s] development/feature set/pricing strategy,” he said, based on feedback from customers.

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