Apple’s App Store price increases now in effect

It had to happen eventually.

The prices of smartphones are set to rise even more this year on continued weakness in the Canadian Dollar, so it came as no shock that Apple, always in tune with currency market proclivities, was set to rejig app prices in countries most affected by Greenback’s surge.

Sometime yesterday, that switch happened, and all prices rose roughly 20 percent. Existing apps that cost $1.19 CAD (the Canadian equivalent to the U.S. $0.99 app) now cost $1.39. Games that ran for $5.99 now go for $6.99. One of my favourite games, XCOM: Enemy Within, went from $11.99 to $13.99 CAD; it costs $9.99 USD.

That 40 percent gulf between U.S. and Canadian pricing is actually a little generous: the current differential of 1.43 is expected to increase to above 1.5 in the coming months, and it’s unlikely Apple will tweak prices again in the interim.

The good news is that Apple has given developers two low-cost app pricing options to use in Canada, so some paid apps have either stayed at $1.19 or have dropped, like the enjoyable Cut the Rope: Magic, back to $0.99 CAD for the core game. In-app purchase prices, on the other hand, have universally been affected by the weaker Dollar.