High Tech: Apple has lowered the price of its applications sold online by 9%

Perhaps you've noticed that the App Store and iTunes Store have been less than ideal these past few days? This is because Apple has been changing the pricing of its online apps. Most now cost 1 franc instead of 1.10 francs. That's an average decrease of 91.3 times the Swiss franc, while the US dollar has lost nearly 201.3 times its value against the Swiss franc this year.

Since then, most websites specializing in Apple products have been speculating about possible price drops. This isn't always the case, however, as prices tend to increase in Mexico and Norway, for example.

More expensive at iTunes Switzerland

However, on iTunes, Swiss consumers are still charged more heavily than in other countries. For example, the song "Super Trouper" by ABBA, sold yesterday for 99 cents on the American iTunes, cost 2.20 francs on the Swiss iTunes. For Apple, the dollar is therefore worth 2.22 francs (as it was in September 1985) instead of the current 81 centimes. Apple justifies this difference, in particular, by citing taxes included in the Swiss price but not in the American price.

Improved shipping time

As for shipping times on the online App Store, which used to be 1 to 2 weeks, they have recently been reduced to 3 to 5 business days. Should this improvement be attributed to a decrease in overall demand, an optimized manufacturing process, or new suppliers? It's worth remembering that the disaster in Japan caused significant delays in the high-tech market, and Apple was not spared.