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.
News
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Top Stories
News
Apr 27th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Views E09 - Supercell's Squad Busters goes global, Embracer Group splits, and Apple's Vision Pro flops
News
Apr 26th, 2024
Week in Views - Squads busted, Apple crushed, War zoned and Snoozin' with the Snorlax…
Feature
Apr 26th, 2024
Speaker Spotlight: Dubai Future Foundation's Faisal Kazim on leading Dubai's gaming charge
Events
Esports Future Summit | Middle East | Apr 27th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Popular Stories
News
Apr 23rd, 2024
Supercell’s Squad Busters soft launches today with over 100,000 Google Play downloads
News
Apr 23rd, 2024