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| Thread ID: 58182 | 2005-05-24 04:50:00 | Something to grumble about | Strommer (42) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 357931 | 2005-05-24 04:50:00 | Once again it seems we are being ripped off. Compare the prices below. Software prices fail to reflect NZ's low rate of piracy read more here (www.stuff.co.nz) :annoyed: New Zealand has the world's second lowest software piracy rate out of 87 countries studied by analyst IDC, but Kiwis aren't being rewarded with lower pricing, paying far more than most for some common packages. The home user version of Microsoft Office 2003 retails at $978 on Dick Smith Electronics' website, but can be bought online from US retailers for $US340 ($NZ479). There's also a gulf between prices for the professional version of Office - $1223 from Dick Smith, but only $US390 ($NZ547) in the US. Windows XP home edition retails at $536 at Dick Smith but is available online for $US185 ($NZ260). The professional versions also cost more. |
Strommer (42) | ||
| 357932 | 2005-05-24 05:17:00 | Not a rip-off per se . More or less straight supply and demand economics . There is no valid reason why low piracy should equate to low prices, or vice versa . It's just that people still voluntarily spend that much money on MS's products (and all the other stuff like security apps) . Maybe if more people swithced to open source, the price would drop through the floor . . . |
vinref (6194) | ||
| 357933 | 2005-05-24 05:34:00 | Dick Smiths probably isn't the best store to use as a comparison though XP Home can be bought for $129 + GST with a mouse Office 2003 Pro can be bought for $469 + GST, if you're a dealer they are both less than that |
bartsdadhomer (80) | ||
| 357934 | 2005-05-24 05:53:00 | Except that the BSA, of which MS is a leading member, hold up priacy as one of the reasons software is not cheaper . I can also see no reason for NZ to have to pay a premium for that same product which has a global market, is probably pressed (the CD) and shipped from the same low cost country, for very little cost difference all around the world . The economies of scale make little difference in this scenario, maybe a few cents per CD for such a cheap item to produce . So, what we are actually paying more for is MS's intellectual property, the ethereal component, and service . Are MS's support & service costs that much more in NZ? What you're suggesting vinref, that we are being price gouged becuase of lack of competition may be true . But, I doubt that is through lack of use of alternatives in NZ as compared to other countries, perhaps more a history of cosseting monopolies with the misguided notion that all will magically come right in the market place . Of course the "market" looks to this a an oppurtunity, as it should . If anything, much as I hate to say it, at the moment piracy supplies the only real competition in as a straight like for like competitor for the vast majority of people . |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 357935 | 2005-05-24 05:55:00 | Dick Smiths probably isn't the best store to use as a comparison though XP Home can be bought for $129 + GST with a mouse Office 2003 Pro can be bought for $469 + GST, if you're a dealer they are both less than that I think we're comparing retail packaged, not OEM. |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 357936 | 2005-05-24 05:55:00 | It isn't really a supply and demand thingy. The cost of shipping software in bulk would be small per unit, even for small bulk. In fact I can buy a book from Amazon cheaper than Whitcoulls will sell the same thing, I havent imported a retail software package but I expect the same thing to apply. The article implied that, but it didn't specifically distinguish between a boxed software and a downloaded program. I assume they mean a boxed retail item bought from the US. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 357937 | 2005-05-24 06:01:00 | What we are paying for is being a few million people at the bottom of the world. Any of the on-line retailers in the US would buy in quantities of "40ft container" of each product. DSE might buy one container of mixed MS software -- and distribute it to all their shops in Australia and NZ. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 357938 | 2005-05-24 10:17:00 | and also some companies treat NZ has a profit machine to make up for what they lose in more competitive markets. i know of a few companies who do that, they break even (barly) in aussie and the NZ stores make all the company profit. | tweak'e (69) | ||
| 357939 | 2005-05-24 10:31:00 | Hardly anything to do with quantity, or with being at the bottom of the world, look , I can buy Windows XP Professional with SP2 from Amazon RETAIL price, ie a profit already included for US$269.99. They charge US$9.99 per shipment for books, lets assume they would charge that for a boxed software, that comes to US$279.98 which at 71 US cents to 1 NZ dollar makes NZ$394. At Paradigm computers online sales they charge NZ$698 for the same thing, ie retail incuding their profit. Now any large dealer will be buying wholesale from US, not retail, so it would be less than Amazon retail, hell I could buy items one at a time from Amazon and sell them here for the same as Paradigm, better still the DSE price and make a bomb out of it. It is rip off somewhere. |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 357940 | 2005-05-24 13:26:00 | Precisely Terry. What's not clear though, is it MS, MS NZ or the retailers racking up the price? Any retailers care to elaborate? | Murray P (44) | ||
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