As if it’s not bad enough that whining Australian billionaires are complaining that international stores don’t have to pay GST, companies which can enforce regional pricing are going to town on Australian buyers.  Apple’s just released their new Mac App Store – the Mac equivalent of the iTunes store already available for iPhone / iPad / iPod devices.  Apple have regional pricing all worked out, so if you think we’ll catch a break with their latest online shopping experience, you obviously haven’t been paying attention.

Take one of my favourite Mac apps – Omnigraffle. Buying it direct from Omnigroup is $199 USD ~= $200.672 AUD

If you’re in North America and you use the Mac App Store US : $199 USD ~= $200.672 AUD

If you’re in the UK Mac App Store – $199 USD ~= $200.672 AUD

If you’re in the Finnish Mac App Store : €149.99 ~= $194.843 AUD

If you’re lucky enough to buy from the Australian Mac App Store, you’ll pay a whopping $249.00 AUD. That’s a 25% premium for living in the lucky country.   See JoshuaGan’s post for more info. (Update: This issue is mentioned in an Omnigroup blog post.)

It’s not just Apple though – check the Steam prices

Call of Duty:  Black Ops from the various international stores:

The UK Steam store : £39.99 GBP ~= $62.058 AUD

The US Steam store : $59.99 USD ~= $60.428 AUD

The Finnish Steam store:  €59.99 EUR ~= $78.447 AUD

And last, (and the opposite of least) the Australian Steam store : $89.99 USD ~= $90.647 AUD

The Steam prices are probably caused by Australian distributors taking some obscene cut. COD4: Black Ops is $89 AUD at both KMart and JB HiFi.