IO540 and Engishal
Points well taken, and whilst not wanting to air a debate about pricing policies here, I can safely say that at no time has the fact that J has been a world leader entered into the equation. I don't mention the M word because that is just not true, we have had challenges all the way along from various quarters and have kept a watchful eye on what the competition has done. And I believe it is safe to say that if you have competition, you don't have an M...!
Comparing prices here to prices in the USA won't work either even if I knew, Al, just what exactly it is you are comparing. It should perhaps be realised that charts for Europe, Africa, the Middle East/South Asia and Eastern Europe have been produced solely in Germany, and that since 1957, so the whole European socio-political aspect and conditions have played a part in the pricing concept. Add to that the huge number of countries with whose authorities it is necessary to work together to get clarification of what is published officially. Cost of printing, cost of paper, and so on. With the introduction of electronic products and Internet offerings there should be a closing of gaps, but we still have the same type of work to do before the charts appear in whatever medium so don't expect wonders.
I guess you couold compare the situation to that of the cost of flying hours here and in the USA.
IO, with regard to FliteMap, it was discontinued for a couple of reasons. First, because FliteDeck (which was better optimized for inflight use) was introduced. We realize that there currently is a gap in product coverage within the VFR market but this is being addressed with solutions that will appear this year in both hemispheres. Secondly, we wanted to create a service that was technically more compatible with our integration strategy. The FliteMap code was old and somewhat behind the curve in this respect. We will continue to support existing FliteMap users however until upgrade options are available for all market segments.
Hope this helps.
brgds
atb