Digital products 'cost almost double in Australia'

30 Jul 2012, 2:23 pm   -   Source: AAP
(Getty Images)

(Getty Images)

An inquiry into IT pricing has heard Aussies are being discriminated against by major computer retailers.

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Australians are paying almost twice as much as US shoppers for some computer games because the IT industry discriminates, consumer watchdog Choice says.

A federal government inquiry into IT pricing has heard Australians pay 90 per cent more for Nintendo games than Americans, and an average of about 50 per cent extra across the digital board.

Matthew Levey, Choice's head of campaigns, says the watchdog has examined pricings for music downloads from iTunes, PC games, software, console games and computer hardware.

"Some of the starkest figures coming out of that were I think finding that Australians pay around 52 per cent more on iTunes on the equivalent top 50 songs than US consumers," Mr Levey told the hearing in Sydney on Monday.

"We pay 88 per cent more for Nintendo Wii console games."

Australians also pay about 34 per cent more for popular home and business software titles and 41 per cent more for Dell computers, he said.

Mr Levey said gross margin factors such as labour costs, retail rents and GST couldn't justify the huge price differences.

"Choice believes that the most likely cause of product disparity ... in IT hardware and software products is international price discrimination," he said.

"The practice of international brand owners, suppliers and manufacturers setting the wholesale cost of products higher for particular markets such as Australia.

"It creates higher costs, it reduces productivity for business and all of that inevitably flows on to households and consumers."

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communication is looking at why there is a large price difference in IT hardware and software products in Australian compared to markets in the US, UK and Asia Pacific.

The hearing continues.

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