Marketplace Apps Pricing: What's going on?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Short and simple rant: Why in the world are the local prices for apps in Marketplace priced at 25% higher than the current US$ exchange rate? Both Android Market and Apple App Store just bill in native currency (and in Android's case, offers a rough approximation in your local currency) and be done with it. Who's sucking up the extra money and why?

PS. Also, does Xbox Live integration add a price premium? Existing titles on iOS and Android are still cheaper, ignoring currency situation as described above.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Err, anyone?

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Well, my CC bill came, and certainly no surprises there. I'm not sure how MS is going to compete when the Apps are more expensive for their international users.