Apple hiking prices in Canadian App Store thanks to falling loonie

WATCH ABOVE: Apple to increase Canadian app store prices

Update (Jan. 9): Prices in the Canadian App Store increased Friday morning.

Apps previously priced at 99 cents have increased anywhere from 20 to 50 cents, making the lowest priced app in the App Store $1.19.

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TORONTO – Canadians can say goodbye to those 99 cent apps. Apple will soon hike prices in the Canadian App Store, according to an email sent to software developers Wednesday.

The tech giant said the increase is being made to account for adjustments in value-added tax (VAT) and foreign exchange rates. That means Canadians can blame the falling loonie for the sudden increase in their iTunes bill.

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According to the email, the changes will take effect within 36 hours.

An Apple spokesperson declined to comment further on the price hike.

Canadians aren’t the only ones being affected by the unspecified price change. Increases will be applied to all territories in the European Union, Norway and Russia.

As Canadian developers got word of the price hike, some took to Twitter to warn users to scoop up any apps they were coveting as soon as possible.

Developers set the price of their own apps by choosing a price tier – $0.99 being the lowest, $999.99 being the highest. The developer can change that price tier at any time.

In theory, if a developer currently has their app priced at anything above the lowest tier they could lower their price to counteract the coming price increase.

However, Apple has not given any indication of what the tiers will increase to.

On Thursday, Apple announced that users set a new record for worldwide App Store purchases, spending nearly half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases in the first week of January alone.