Adobe CC price increase in UK

[Geoff F]

Just received notification of a price rise in Adobe CC/Lightroom package due to the collapse of the UK Pound; and no likelihood of it increasing in value for the near future. Now £120 for a year.

The full pay version of AVG Antivirus has also increased so I will be looking for a replacement. I have been using the pay version of Malwarebytes as well and that seems to be the most effective. Maybe I'll just get a free antivirus or perhaps just rely on Malwarebytes? Although I see Bitdefender have a half price offer at the moment.

[Tronhard]

Funny that about Adobe... especially since they have just announced that the alternative, the Creative Suite 6 has just been retired, making the CC version the sole survivor:

see: https://www.dpreview.com/news/363365...cially-retired

Nothing like removing the options to allow one to hike prices.

[Geoff F]

With Serif Affinity being a UK product which is on offer at a much cheaper price I can see a lot of non professional users looking elsewhere.

[DanK]

Funny that about Adobe... especially since they have just announced that the alternative, the Creative Suite 6 has just been retired, making the CC version the sole survivor:

see: https://www.dpreview.com/news/363365...cially-retired

Nothing like removing the options to allow one to hike prices.

If Adobe is to be believed, this has nothing to do with removing options; it's yet one more consequence of Brexit and the resulting collapse of the pound. Before Brexit, $1 US was worth less than .7 pounds; it's been about .8 for the last few months. Since there are no fixed costs like shipping, an increase of about 15% in the subscription price would keep revenues to Adobe roughly constant. I haven't heard any hint of an increase here in the US, which gives credence to their explanation.

[Tronhard]

In that context it sounds logical... just another fallout from the political upheavals of our time...

If Adobe is to be believed, this has nothing to do with removing options; it's yet one more consequence of Brexit and the resulting collapse of the pound. Before Brexit, $1 US was worth less than .7 pounds; it's been about .8 for the last few months. Since there are no fixed costs like shipping, an increase of about 15% in the subscription price would keep revenues to Adobe roughly constant. I haven't heard any hint of an increase here in the US, which gives credence to their explanation.

[Mike Buckley]

Funny that about Adobe... especially since they have just announced that the alternative, the Creative Suite 6 has just been retired, making the CC version the sole survivor:

If Adobe is to be believed, this has nothing to do with removing options

I completely agree with Dan. In addition to his explanation of the economics, Adobe removed the option of providing updates and upgrades to the Creative Suite long ago. It didn't make any sense to continue offering a legacy product forever and ever. Moreover, there still has been no hint that Adobe will discontinue the stand-alone version of Lightroom, so it's not as if all photo-editing options have been eliminated.

However, the increase in price is being reported by customers in a wide range of 10% to 60% with the high end applying to student pricing. We would need to know the history of student pricing relative to regular pricing to have an informed opinion about that.

[Black Pearl]

This will become common place over the next few years until the economy settles, recovers and (hopefully) the pound starts to come back to its previous value. A wide range of electronic goods have already increased and supermarkets are fighting tooth and claw to wrestle suppliers and margins to stop our weekly shopping going up.

[tao2]

Adobe are charging more, simply because they can...get away with it... Their reasoning, like the original European pricing for Creative Cloud, is simply based on gratuitous avarice

[Black Pearl]

Adobe are charging more, simply because they can...get away with it... Their reasoning, like the original European pricing for Creative Cloud, is simply based on gratuitous avarice

Yes and no.

Yes - they were getting the equivalent of just over $13 from the UK CC package before the Brexit vote last summer whereas its only £10 if you subscribe in the US

No - because of the crashing pound they are now getting about $11.60 (you could argue that is fair) and when the new pricing starts they will get around £12.60 so its still less than they have been receiving.

[Tringa]

Geoff, do have a look at free versions of security.

I haven't used a paid for anti-virus, firewall or anti-malware software for about 20 years and apart from once, when it was my fault, I have never had any problem. The free ones are perfectly good.

Dave

[Manfred M]

I subscribe to the whole Creative Cloud package. When I first enrolled, the $CAD was close to the $US and I was paying somewhere around $CAD 58 a month for a $US 50 package. It's now up to around $CAD 75 due to exchange rate fluctuations. I have two choices, pay or drop my subscription.

At this point I am paying as I do do use the software and it comes out roughly to the same price as when I was updating the full suite.

Right now the $US is strong against a lot of other world currencies, and that is effectively what is happening.

[Mike Buckley]

Anyone who has been objecting to Adobe's pricing should simply have bought their stock (and I'm not referring to their stock of photos). The price of their stock has risen from about $25 to $125 in the last five years and the increase has almost been a straight line upward throughout the entire five-year period. The profits gained from buying just five shares of stock would have paid for the cost of licensing Photoshop/Lightroom CC based on sale pricing regularly available these days, though I realize CC was not available five years ago.

[xpatUSA]

Off-topic, but related re: Brexit.

(grump) I've suffered quite a loss of income because I have two UK pensions.

At one time I was getting 1.8 dollars to the pound . . now it's like 1.2 or something . .

[tao2]

Anyone who has been objecting to Adobe's pricing should simply have bought their stock (and I'm not referring to their stock of photos). The price of their stock has risen from about $25 to $125 in the last five years and the increase has almost been a straight line upward throughout the entire five-year period. The profits gained from buying just five shares of stock would have paid for the cost of licensing Photoshop/Lightroom CC based on sale pricing regularly available these days, though I realize CC was not available five years ago.

Hi Mike,

That stock hike is probably directly related tae Europeans paying 60% more for CC...

[tao2]

Off-topic, but related re: Brexit.

(grump) I've suffered quite a loss of income because I have two UK pensions.

At one time I was getting 1.8 dollars to the pound . . now it's like 1.2 or something . .

Hi Ted,
I've also suffered such a loss of income. Nothing tae do with Brexit. But the incredible greed of bankers and financiers producing the crash in 2006 onwards. Brexit is small beer compared tae that and if ye read the Bank of England's latest statement on the short -term future of the UK economy, the future's brighter than Adobe's share value... Multi-national and transnational companies ALWAYS use uncertainty tae boost profits at YOUR expense...

[Geoff F]

Geoff, do have a look at free versions of security.

I haven't used a paid for anti-virus, firewall or anti-malware software for about 20 years and apart from once, when it was my fault, I have never had any problem. The free ones are perfectly good.

Dave

That was my thinking, Dave. Probably keep the paid form of Malwarebytes for now and change to a free antivirus. I've cancelled my AVG subscription which still gives me around a month to make a final decision.

[JohnRostron]

With Serif Affinity being a UK product which is on offer at a much cheaper price I can see a lot of non professional users looking elsewhere.

Just as I have. I have Photoshop CS5 and Dreamweaver CS3, so I will not be renewing my CC subscription. I find Affinity does all that I want except link to a scanner, hence my retaining PS CS5.

John

[george013]

That was my thinking, Dave. Probably keep the paid form of Malwarebytes for now and change to a free antivirus. I've cancelled my AVG subscription which still gives me around a month to make a final decision.

What did you make not to stick with the free edition of AVG? And a free edition of ZoneAlarm?

George

[Geoff F]

I started internet use with the paid version of Zone Alarm, George, but eventually got a Ransomware attack which wasn't blocked; so I had to format my computer and start again. I only use a separate old computer for internet use, never my main working machine.

After formating the computer I discovered that I couldn't simply reload Zone Alarm software. I would have to purchase another copy and I was only 2 months into a one year contract! So I tried AVG free then thought that having been caught once, I ought to go for the full pay package to get extra security.

Even then, I kept getting pop up malicious adverts because after formating I was reinfected with RDSRV. So I changed my modem and added Malwarebytes which eventually got me clear.

I don't mind paying a reasonable charge for total protection but the full version of AVG plus the pay form of Malwarebytes is now beginning to look excessive after the price increase.

Malwarebytes is effective and does block malware for me. Whether a free version would be just as effective is something to consider but these companies have to get some sort of reward for their effort which tends to make me think that some things are going to be less effective with a totally free programme.

[Cantab]

I've been using Kaspersky AV for many years. It's not free but I haven't been attacked or infected by anything.