Why does it cost so much to buy Adobe software in Australia?
According to an article found in the February 14 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald it is cheaper for Australia business to fly to the United States (return) and purchase their Adobe software versus buying the software here in Australia.
When Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen was forced to defend why Adobe charges Australian business $1800 more for many of their products compared to the exact same software in the US, he didn’t seem to be too concerned about the price difference.
Adobe’s Creative Suite Master 6 Collection costs over $4300 in Australia compared to $A2500, the price our friends in the United States pay for the exact same software. Creative Suite includes software like image editing solution Adobe Photoshop and video editing program Premiere Pro plus InDesign, Dreamweaver and Fireworks.
What options does business have in Australia?
Adobe, like many leading software companies is moving towards a subscription model for their software solutions. Charging users monthly versus paying upfront for their software and technology.
Last week, Adobe announced a reduction for Australian business for their subscription or cloud-based solutions. This is definitely the direction many are going however for those who wish to purchase the software once and use it forever, they are not very happy about being pushed towards a cloud subscription model.
There are many benefits to Australian business when electing to move towards a subscription model versus purchasing software, one immediate benefit is a lower upfront cost. Software subscriptions are very affordable for small businesses allowing them access to many of the same products once only affordable by larger organisations.
There is another great benefit to software subscriptions and Adobe’s will not be different. Subscribers will have access to all updates and upgrades as soon as they are available versus having to re-invest in the next version resulting in cost savings over time, especially if your organisation wants to stay ahead of the technology curve.
Mr. Narayan said in the Sydney Morning Herald article that software subscriptions are a key part of their strategy and it is just part of an ongoing and continuous way in which they continue to look for and attract more customers to their cloud platform.
When asked about the price differences between Australian and US markets, Narayan kept going back to the cloud. We know where Adobe’s priority lies and this is not uncommon with many of the key software vendors.
The cloud is here to stay and many Australian businesses are leveraging cloud technologies each day. Do you need help figuring out cloud technologies for your Australian business?
Give us a call and meet with our cloud consultants for a no obligation review of your cloud readiness or cloud technologies.
