Interesting pricing article...

[Technical Ben]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/australian-parliament-urges-citizens-to-bypass-geo-locks-on-software/

The excuse of "translation" seems defunct. The excuse of "distribution costs" too, as it's digital (Aus while far away is big enough for a couple of server farms?). So why do they do it?

[john]

The price of many products/services today isn't based on the cost of providing the product plus a reasonable margin but an amount that they can persuade suffcient numbers to pay to optimise profits. As this amount varies from country to country it is in the sellers interest to be able to charge different prices in different areas in order to maximise profits. Companies will dream up several reasons in an attempt to justify the difference in cost, often making some variations in the product for different markets. I remember when the price of cars was significantly higher in the UK than most places in mainland Europe, in fact I think even British made cars were more expensive here.

It's probably quite a complex equation to calculate the price, some companies are happy to have a small margin and sell lots of items whilst others, particularly with luxury goods, prefer to sell a few items with a very large margin.

[Technical Ben]

That's fine. But it's also in the buyers interests to moan/do something about it then.    
The biggest problem is a company not being honest. Simply "that is the price we are happy with" suffices. Instead of double talk. :/