Executives from Apple, Microsoft and Adobe were summoned to appear before an Australian court this week to explain why digital content prices are so much higher in the land down under than in other countries.

MacRumors is reporting that Apple Australia Vice President Tony King was among technology executives who appeared before the Australian Parliament on Friday, which also included managing directors from both Adobe and Microsoft as well.

While the other companies were on the hook over software prices, Apple faced scrutiny over pricing of digital media sold through the company's iTunes services, which the Australian government claims are marked up more than other first-world prices.

"The pricing of this digital content is based on the wholesale prices which are set through negotiated contracts with the record labels, movie studios and TV networks," King, who also oversees Apple's business in New Zealand and South Asia, explained.

"In Australia, they have often set a higher wholesale price than the price of similar content in the United States," the Apple VP added, noting "the content industry still runs with perhaps old-fashioned notions of country borders or territories or markets" as well.

King pointed out that the price of digital content sold on iTunes in Australia was "comparable to other Australian physical and online stores," while insisting "the cards are in the hands of the folks who own the content."

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, movies, TV shows and music sold through iTunes in Australia are routinely marked up 30 percent or more, with a whopping 70 percent markup for the AC/DC album Back in Black.

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