Price for new software hiked by Korean sellers

The new Windows Vista operating system costs about 130,000 won ($140) more in Korea, so consumers here blamed Microsoft for abusing its monopoly position.
The real culprit, it turned out, was the Korean vendors themselves.
Microsoft said that it provided Vista at the same wholesale price to all personal computer makers, and that local vendors decided the retail prices of the software sold separately.
“The consumer price for Vista is up to the local Internet shopping malls or shops,” Microsoft Korea said.
“Differences can occur because distributing companies take into consideration the size of the market as well as shipping costs and taxes.”
Windows Vista goes on sale for regular users on Wednesday.
The Korean-language Home premium version, for people who are installing the operating system for the first time on their computers, has a price tag of 359,000 won ($382).
This is much more than the $240 retail price of the English version sold in the United States on Web sites such as Amazon.com.
The upgraded version, which is for people who want to upgrade their version of Windows, costs 242,000 won, about 100,000 won pricier than the same software available in the United States.
Vista Business, for middle and small companies, is about 200,000 won more expensive, at 446,000 won.
On major Web portals, consumers complained about the price difference, suggesting that Microsoft was taking advantage of Koreans.
“Most people will use the new operating system when they buy a new PC ― very few will be affected by actually buying a separate operating system,” said Soft Vision, an authorized Vista retailer. “There is not a lot of Vista selling in the Korea market, so we had no choice but to set the bar high.”
Lee Chang-whan, a self-proclaimed hacker wannabe, said, “At that price, it would be a better deal to get a new computer altogether.”

By Wohn Dong-hee(Staff Writer) / Lee Weon-ho(JoongAng Ilbo) [wohn@joongang.co.kr]