On Monday, Apple announced it would shortly bring up App Store prices in multiple regions starting next month, including South Korea, Japan, and some more in Europe. The price increases will affect both App Store apps and in-app purchases starting next month. Apple is planning to raise the prices of its apps in various regions around the world.
This move comes as the company looks to offset the declining value of other currencies against the US dollar. Apple has also confirmed which regions will be affected by the price hike. Countries like Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all territories that use the Euro currency will see this price hike.
The price of apps in the App Store is currently $0.99 in the US. It is unknown how precisely the prices will hike, but it seems that the hikes will be in the region of 10-15%. During the past year, the average price of an app has increased by 20%.
This trend is likely to continue as developers are increasingly looking to the App Store as a source of revenue. There are several reasons for this trend. First, the App Store is a growing market. More users are using apps and are willing to pay for quality content.
Second, developers are getting better at creating value for users. They are offering more features and more polished products. The third is the declining value of other currencies against the US dollar.
Apple states the price hike in Vietnam is because of new local tax regulations. “In Vietnam, these increases also reflect new regulations for Apple to collect and remit applicable taxes, being value added tax (VAT) and corporate income tax (CIT) at 5% rates respectively,” says Apple.
Nevertheless, the price increase will likely come into effect on October 5, so if you are planning on buying any apps from the App Store, you might want to do so sooner rather than later.