How does Office 2007 pricing in other countries like Australia compare with the charge in the USA?
Down in Australia they are screaming about the price of Vista and Office 2007.
We’re obliged to David Firth for an analysis of comparable pricing between Vista in the USA and ‘down under’, which shows a price difference between US and Australia of more than 25% in some cases.
We’ve done a similar analysis for Office 2007, the Aussie pricing was announced after David’s article.
We used an exchange rate generous in Microsoft’s favor (Microsoft would get better than ‘credit card’ xrates), assumed a higher shipping cost than the company could negotiate and added the Aussie retail tax (GST at 10%). If anything, we’ve weighed the calculations in favor of Microsoft.
Aussie customers are paying between 12% and 21% higher than the equivalent US pricing which isn’t outrageous but still a nice little extra earner.
Office 2007 Product |
Official US Price |
US Price converted to Aussie dollars plus |
Official AUD$ price |
Difference |
Home and Student |
US $149 |
$222 |
$249 |
12% |
Standard |
US $399 |
$586 |
$690 |
18% |
Standard upgrade |
US $239 |
$353 |
$399 |
13% |
Small Business |
US $449 |
$658 |
$749 |
14% |
Small Business – upgrade |
US $279 |
$411 |
$499 |
21% |
Professional |
US $499 |
$731 |
$849 |
16% |
Professional – upgrade |
US $329 |
$484 |
$549 |
13% |
Ultimate |
US $679 |
$993 |
$1,150 |
16% |
Ultimate – upgrade |
US $539 |
$789 |
$939 |
19% |
Calculation Details:
Interbank Exchange Rate at 9 November: 1.29708 plus 2% to simulate higher credit card rate.
Australian retail tax (GST): 10%
Additional Shipping (over)estimate: $5.00
Of course, each Microsoft subsidiary charges the highest price they think possible for their region. And with fixed prices they are taking some exchange rate risk. Just as customers are entitled to compare the different pricing of the same product.
There are different costs associated with selling software in various markets but the Internet and globalization has reduced those variations markedly.
See Also
- Office 2010 pricing announced
- A cheaper option for Office 2007 Standard
- Office 2007 in the UK is pricey