Sun and Localized Pricing · 170 words posted 06/01/2004 05:47 AM
In January, I made the following prediction:
2004 is the year that Western (i.e., Western European and North American) software companies finally understand that they either adopt strategies to make their products more affordable in developing countries, or irrevocably lose the fight against software piracy.
According to the International Herald Tribune (via John Dowdell), Sun has taken a major step in that direction with plans to localize pricing based on population and degree of industrialization:
The software will be sold to governments for between 33 cents and $1.95 a citizen annually, depending on each nation’s development status as measured by the United Nations.
Disparities in the ability to purchase software are shocking (see, .e.g., this interactive graph comparing the price of Macromedia Studio MX 2004 to GDP per capita in 10 different countries). It’s in the interest of Western software vendors to make their products affordable in developing countries—without affordable options, developing country programmers will either (a) pirate Western software and weaken intellectual property over the long run, or (b) write their own.
* * *