Apple to hike app store prices

iClarified has published the statement from Apple to app developers announcing the price hike for the Australian, Indonesia and Swedish markets. The email also includes a link to allow customers to turn their subscription off. Applying current exchange rates (we used the XE currency app on iPhone for our checking) put the local pricing at $1.35. If you’re now a subscriber to an app, your automatic payments will not be cancelled, but you will get an email informing you of the changes to what you’ll be paying.

Apple has blamed foreign exchange rates for the change.

According to the report on the site, the app prices will be hiked in the next 36 hours in the three countries.

An app costing $1.29, for instance, will go up 20 cents to $1.49.

Apple also said it won’t cancel auto-renewing subscriptions as a result of the price increase. Apple says it will not interrupt subscriptions but will let customers know of the price increase. Prices are being increased across the board.

Mashable Australia has reached out to Apple for comment and will update when further details about new prices are revealed.

To combat any kind of backlash, Apple are apparently planning to introduce a low-price tier to give app developers the choice of charging just 99c for their products. Developers will have the option to sell their apps for as low as AU $0.99.