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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