Apple blamed content owners for the huge price gap for digital goods sold in the U.S. and those sold in Australia. The comments were made on Friday during a hearing with Australia’s Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications.
The Australian Parliamentary inquiry, which included executives from Microsoft and Adobe, was called to address alleged “price gouging” practices by the three companies. As noted by The Sydney Morning Herald, Aussie customers see software and digital content costs sometimes inflated by over 70 percent compared to U.S. pricing.
While Microsoft and Abode were also targeted for their software offerings, Apple had been singled out for “gouging” the public with higher movie and music pricing. Apple’s Vice President for Australia, New Zealand and South Asia Tony King responded to the allegations, sayiing content owners demand higher prices in Australia than in other countries like the U.S.
“The pricing of this digital content is based on the wholesale prices which are set through negotiated contracts with the record labels, movie studios and TV networks,” King said. “The content industry still runs with perhaps old-fashioned notions of country borders or territories or markets.”
He continued, saying that Apple’s prices are comparable to other Australian outlets, and that the Cupertino company was not taking advantage of its customers, noting that Apple had pushed for lower costs to consumers, as it “creates confusion for customers.”
