Tech World Braces For A Major Letdown As Apple Set To Raise Its App Store Prices In Europe And Asia

It’s not the news that many people were hoping to hear, but we’d hate to tell you that Apple is gearing up for a price hike across its App Stores. This new change will take place from next month and will include all stores seen across Europe to Asia.

Apple Inc. has recently witnessed increasing prices on various app tiers and in-app purchases. And the move was taken to help protect its profit margins as the world’s currency takes a tumble due to the current economic uncertainty.

This, in turn, means customers in various parts of the world will have to put up with the news, such as those utilizing the Euro and many others.

Bloomberg and  Reuters were the first to break the not-so-positive news, listing the top nations affected: China, Sweden, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and South Korea. They will all see the price hikes starting October 5, as mentioned by the firm via a message to its developers.

The news can come as early as October 5, the Cupertino company revealed in a text released for developers recently. This move will also severely affect Vietnam as new tax collection rules come into play. These were the only nations highlighted for now, but the company has yet to explain why.

But industry critics say it has to be related to the role of the US dollar and how its strength might get out of control compared to other currencies. For instance, let’s take Japan for example. We could soon see a price hike of 30% as the yen fell to new lows in 2022.

It was only this year, during the summertime, that we saw the tech giant raise its prices across various devices like the Mac, iPad, and iPhone. And it was related to the current economic downturn seen worldwide.

A similar scenario was seen with the Euro, and it’s currently trading at par with the US dollar and may soon be depicting signs of more weakness in the near future.

This is definitely not the first time that we’re seeing such news about Apple going ahead with a price hike taking center stage. But it’s definitely being called out as a major one, explained one market analyst from Tokyo.

It’s like an adjustment that many developers will be forced to deal with, leading to more and more people being less willing to create in-app purchases. And as a result, developers will really need to step up their pricing game if they wish to do well in today’s markets that are bustling with the competition.

Unfortunately, leading app developers have already carried out a price hike in the past year, as proved by a previously published independent study. Here, the average costs for in-app purchases increased by 40% in July 2022. But there are some reports about how Apple’s policy will enable developers to keep on board their current subscribers for a subscription service offered at the prices right now.

Read next: New Report Says Apple Exerts Mega Influence Over A Body The Represents Developers
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World