July 24th, 2008
Weak US dollar starts to drive up mobile software prices
I am working on a full review of the excellent SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PC and just received a note from the company that has an effect on pricing for U.S. buyers. Due to the fact that SoftMaker is a German company dealing in Euros, the significant loss in value of the U.S. dollar has driven them to make changes in their software pricing. SoftMaker reported in the email that when the Euro was introduced in 2002 it was about equal to the U.S. dollar, but the dollar has now fallen to be worth 60 percent less.
Effective on Monday, 28 July, the following price changes will go into effect:
** Full versions of SoftMaker Office 2008 **
- Old: EUR 69.95 or US$ 79.95
- New: EUR 59.95 (reduction) or US$ 79.95 (unchanged)
** Upgrades to SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows **
- Old: EUR 34.95 or US$ 39.95
- New: EUR 29.95 (reduction) or US$ 44.95 (increase)
** Upgrades to SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs **
- Old: EUR 34.95 or US$ 44.95
- New: EUR 29.95 (reduction) or US$ 44.95 (unchanged)
** Upgrades to SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs and Windows **
- Old: EUR 44.95 or US$ 54.95
- New: EUR 39.95 (reduction) or US$ 59.95 (increase)
Customers in the United States and Canada will be billed in US Dollars, everybody else in Euros. They also stated that they will revisit their pricing structure when the exchange rates change again significantly.
SoftMaker’s mobile products are extremely powerful and thus have a rather high cost compared to other applications so I can understand the necessary price changes. Also, most of their products are not increasing in price, but those that are are rising US$5 or 9-12.5%. We’ll see if any other software developers are forced to make changes too.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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