During its App Store maintenance takedown, it seems Apple has been doing more than just preparing for iPad mini.

As pointed out by TheNextWeb, it's also tweaked the standard app prices for all countries in the Eurozone.

There's been no official announcement yet, but similar to what happened when UK prices were changed in 2011 - when the standard 99c pricepoint was raised to 69p from 59p - the previous €0.79 standard price is now €0.89.

Structural weakness

The reason will be the changing dollar vs. Euro exchange rate.

18 months ago, €0.79 was 'worth' $1.15 (using commercial exchange rates; Apple no doubt has its own system for working out such conversions).

But since the Eurozone countries have been dealing with their various debt issues, the value of the Euro has been falling steadily against the dollar.

Before today's changes, €0.79 was nominally worth $1.03. Conversely, €0.89 is worth $1.16, back to the value Apple was getting 18 months ago.

Of course, it's not just the lowest level of prices that's changes, it's the entire set.

For example, the $1.99 price point - previously €1.59 - moves to €1.79, while $2.99 - previously €2.39 - becomes €2.69.