On the contrary, I saved a couple of hundred dollars by getting a Macbook Pro from Japan. There's an Inquiry going on right now into IT-related pricing by Apple, Adobe and Microsoft:
The price gouging of Australian consumers is especially noticeable when it comes to intangible goods like software and games purchased digitally. As an example, when Diablo 3 came out a few months ago I purchased it via the Blizzard store for $79 (no packaging costs, no distribution costs except for a little bandwidth) and yet I paid $79 for a computer game. While that doesn't sound too bad at first, friends of mine who purchased physical copies of the game from Dick Smith paid $59 for a physical copy that required packaging, printing and a CD, not to mention shipping costs as well as store markup. We are definitely being ripped off here in Australia, just because we can afford to pay more doesn't give companies the right to charge more (especially for digital downloads).
I doubt anything will come of the inquiry to be honest, but it is nice to think that perhaps things might change.
I doubt anything will come of the inquiry to be honest, but it is nice to think that perhaps things might change.