Adobe charges premium prices from European customers
Adobe just announced the next generation of their Creative Suite family software products, including prices. As in previous years, there are significant price differences between the US and European market (as example I looked up the prices for the Netherlands) for the same products (English versions, prices excluding VAT):
| Product | USA | NL | % |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium | $1,699 | $2,668 | 57% |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection | $2,499.00 | $3,735.82 | 49% |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium | $1,799.00 | $2,668 | 48% |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard | $1,199.00 | $1,693.73 | 41% |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Premium | $1,599.00 | $2,267.65 | 42% |
| Adobe Creative Suite 3 Web Standard | $999.00 | $1,333.36 | 33% |
Exchange rate used: €1 = $1.335
I currently have licenses for Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Creative Suite 2 Premium. Adobe doesn’t offer custom bundles with only those product one really wants, so in my case the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium comes closest to my needs. As upgrade it would cost me $1,133.16 in the Netherlands vs. $599.00 in the US, which is a difference of 89% – enough to fly over the Atlantic and buy it there myself.
I can not imagine how Adobe justifies these extreme differences, especially as I am not talking about localized versions. Since Adobe took over Macromedia they have more or less a monopoly on design and image editing tools, which are de facto standards in the industry. As a honest customer I don’t have much choice. I have been using their software for many years and once I am switching to an Intel-Mac, I will have to upgrade or search for alternatives which I have not seen yet.
If you would like to react:
Managing Director Central & Eastern Europe:
Fritz Fleischmann
Adobe Systems GmbH
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 58
D-80992 München
Deutschland
Update [April 16, 2007]:
Sign the online petition for Fair pricing for European Software
more posts about this subject:
Adobe is ripping off European customers
Adobe posted a net profit of $143.9 million, or 24 cents per diluted share, in its fiscal first-quarter ended February 28 2007, versus a profit of $105.1 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Obviously we are supposed to help them to achieve an even higher net profit this quarter.
Update [April 23, 2007]:
Danielle Libine did a lot of work and wrote a long article about the situation:
Adobe pricing in the EU
and how it affects customer behavior, encourages piracy and harms company image
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