There's definitely a Creative Cloud based announcement on the 23rd, but nothing has been confirmed regarding details. We may or may not hear a shipping date. Of course, it's better to upgrade earlier rather than later.

I was under the impression that, due to a campaign by Scott Kelby, Adobe had announced that owners of CS4 (and maybe CS3?) were eligible to purchase CS6 for the upgrade price without purchasing an interim CS5.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

That offer is good until the end of this year.  Then it goes go upgrade pricing for only next version.

ashleykaryl wrote:

 

This isn't just about money for everybody either because there are clearly people out there who can afford to upgrade with every version and yet many simply don't want or need to upgrade, so even for those people this move manages to provoke a negative reaction. Whichever way I try to look at this it isn't a customer friendly move.

I agree.  And it is probably harder for business decisions.  They are slow to change as they have to upgrade eveyone to keep them the same.  So therefore they are slow to move to new technology unless they can be convinced it will increase profits.

If they miss one upgrade the price will then become unreasonable and believe they will look for alternatives.  If there is a demand someone eles may develp a product to satisify thier needs.  Will that be Adobe or some other company?

Trevor.Dennis wrote:

 

So get ready for another 1.7Gb download…

  Personally, I want the box with a DVD in it.  One thing is to download a beta and another to upgrade to a GM version via download.

acresofgreen wrote:

 

…This means that for those who want to upgrade from an earlier version to CS5.5 now in order to get the CS6 product for free after launch, time is running short.

Indeed:

station_one wrote:

Trevor.Dennis wrote:

 

So get ready for another 1.7Gb download…

 

  Personally, I want the box with a DVD in it.  One thing is to download a beta and another to upgrade to a GM version via download.

Using the DL means you have immediate access (well depending on your connection speed), and you never have to worry about losing your DVD.  It's like Cloud storage, which means we all get the same download from the same place…

So why do people outside of America have to pay nearly TWICE as much?

Seriously.  Will somebody answer this?

Trevor.Dennis wrote:

 

station_one wrote:

 

ashleykaryl wrote:

 

Perhaps I'm missing something and it will suddenly hit me like a bolt of lightning but so far I'm almost completely indifferent to Photoshop CS6…

ACR 7.x is worth the upgrade.

 

Well it might have been if you could not get PV2012 with Lightroom 4 for just US$149

 

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom.html

Yes and if you've already purchased the cheaper upgrade to Lightroom as I have done CS6 becomes even less interesting.

George, myself, and other mystified offshore customers, are using the relevant exchange rates to work out the difference in price between the US and our own particular countries.   I can order other goods from overseas and pay with my NZ Mastercard, and I obviously use my NZ Mastercard while overseas myself.  What I see in my account is the amount with that day’s exchange rate taken into account.  In fact, to order Adobe products online, I have to use the Australian Adobe store, which charges my NZ Mastercard in Oz dollars according to the exchange rate.

It is not rocket science, and it works in an obvious and predictable way.

I wonder how US State tax is worked out for online orders?  If a UK customer took VAT and import duty into account, it still wouldn’t come close to the price they actually pay, and it is same here with our GST.

AFAICT it is pure profiteering from a company that has a market monopoly because nothing else comes close to Photoshop, and it leaves a very bad taste in your mouth.  Especially as no Adobe representative will even try to justify it.

Trevor.Dennis wrote:

 

....Using the DL means you have immediate access (well depending on your connection speed), and you never have to worry about losing your DVD...

Never lost a CD or DVD, but I've seen HDs fail. 

Trevor, I Googled the issue and there are quite a few hits on the subject. It is not just a NZ issue, but everywhere overseas.

One interesting article from AU that explains it somewhat is at:

http://tinyurl.com/3dk7qrt

George, thanks for the link. Very interesting, but it does not explain anything  —  just confirms the problem.  I can't even try to get round it by sourcing overseas, because my copy of CS5 was bought from the Oz online store, and I would not qualify for the upgrade discount anywhere else.  So people like myself are completely at the mercy of Adobe's rip-off policy.  When you Google the problem, a lot of people use the situation as an excuse to buy pirated versions. I wonder if Adobe took that into account with the reduction in cost for Lightroom 4 — a lot more people will stay legal at US$149, and Adobe might even come out ahead.

When you add Adobe's new single version upgrade policy to their offshore price hikes, it looks more and more like Adobe's marketing team and Board have a cynical disregard for their customers.  Shame on them!

Adobe's senior Management really do need to read some of the comments in photographic and design-oriented websites to see the degree of anger and animosity, towards the Corporation as a whole, which is being expressed about the overseas pricing by their European, Australian and South African customers in particular.

No company can afford to ignore something as potentially damaging as the groundswell of adverse comments (and even direct incitement to boycott Adobe) that I am seeing being expressed on the internet at the moment.

Just received an email from B&H announcing that Photoshop CS 6 is available for pre-ordering for US $ 700 (well, $699) and it will ship on May 7.

I guess that cares of all the irrationally unrealistic hopes some had for a "price reduction". 

This the Austrailian online shop, and the price to upgrade from CS5 Extended to CS6 Extended  Oz$606

That comes to NZ$736 which currently equates to US$591 

The same upgrade for people in America is $399 ...so I am paying half as much again.

Anyone in the UK or other non US country care to look up your pricing?

UK  Photoshop CS6 costs compared to US costs

Version               Bought In US                                             Bought In UK                             £ difference

FULL                  $ 699.00 (=  £ 443.92) + taxes               £ 660.51  (= $ 1,040.04)            £ 216.59

Upgrade           $  199.00 (= £ 126.38)  + taxes              £ 188.19  (= $    296.32)                £ 61.81

Exchange Rate (at 23 Apr 2012)     $1.5746  =£1.0000

The price differnce speaks for itself !

Photoshop CS6 - FULL Versn

Photoshop CS6 - UPGRADE Version