Publications
Partners
Cape Town – The fall of the rand has resulted in technology giant Apple hiking prices of its mobile applications for South Africans.
The iPhone-maker has announced in a note to developers that it was increasing pricing of applications, according to a report on The Next Web.
The move follows the local currency's sustained fall against the US dollar from R11.56 in January 2015 to R16.69 on Monday, according to South African Reserve Bank data. Other countries affected by the Apple price hikes include Canada, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and Singapore.
Apple’s new lowest priced apps in SA start at R18.99 for the tier 1 level, which has increased from R13.99 previously. Meanwhile, the most expensive apps at tier 87 are now set to be priced at R19 999.99.
This means that developers who sell their apps at R18.99 will earn R11.66 for each sale and those who sell their apps at R19 999.99 will earn R12 280.70.
The increase comes on the back of a record holiday season for the company.
Apple said in the week ending January 3 that customers spent $1.1bn on applications, with New Year's Day setting a daily record of $144m.
“The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20bn on the App Store last year alone,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
- Follow Duncan on Twitter
