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Sony Australia who has a reputation for price gouging has said that they will not pass on the $100 Tablet S price cut given to US consumers yesterday. Instead Sony expects consumers to pay $192 more for the same product in Australia.
Early yesterday SmartHouse was told by the Bing Lee run Sony Central store that they expected the price cuts to be passed on in Australia.
Currently Sony Australia is selling the struggling 16GB version of their Tablet S for $579 at the Sony Central Store the same device sells at the Sony Store in the USA for $387. The 32GB is selling for $689.
On top of this Sony Australia is not giving away a free 180-day trial of Sony’s Music Unlimited service or five free rentals from Sony’s Video Unlimited Service or five free downloadable PlayStation games.
This is not the first time that the struggling Japanese Company has tried to gouge hundreds from Australian consumers.
When SmartHouse exposed how Sony Computer Entertainment was price gouging Australian consumers with their Playstation PS3 gaming console which at the time was 50% over the price of the same product in the USA Sony chose to black ban SmartHouse from receiving any press releases.
A Sony Australia spokeswoman said ”We may consider some price adjustments in the future as we prepare to introduce the 3G version of the Sony Tablet, however nothing is confirmed at this stage,” the spokeswoman said.
Ingrid Just, spokeswoman for consumer group Choice told Fairfax Media ”It’s another example of how some of the big players in the market use their market power to essentially prevent consumers from getting a fair price no matter where they live in the world.”
A senior executive at a major retailer said “Sony still think they are Apple, they believe that their products are still seen by consumers as being equal to Apple when they are not and never will be. JB Hi Fi sold out of Apple stock at most of their major stores over the Christmas New Year period, Sony stock is still sitting on the floor of retailers right around the Country, they are a yesterday brand”.
Fairfax Media reported that vendors like Sony argue that the price difference is largely due to different market conditions and costs, particularly wages, but the Productivity Commission and others have said these factors could not justify some of the huge price differences we’ve seen.
Currently Sony Tablet sales are struggling with the brand failing to make the top six including Android and Apple tablets.
