Citing the weak economy, SAP has cut the cost of developer subscriptions for its NetWeaver platform by roughly 50 percent, according to a post this week on an official company blog.

SAP began offering individual developer subscriptions for the technology about a year ago, in an apparent effort to draw additional interest. The company has been trying to move customers still on older systems onto NetWeaver-based platforms like ERP 6.0, and also working to resolve an SAP skills shortage in the job market.

"You may be curious as to the reasons behind this reduction," wrote Claudine Lagerholm, senior product manager for SAP Developer Network subscriptions, on Monday. "Since the launch, many of you have been vocal about the subscriptions program, particularly how it should evolve over time, the geographical expansion needed, and to some extent the pricing. We've heard some subscribers say that they've received a great deal of value for the money; however, we've also received feedback from others that the financial burden for individual subscribers was rather high."

"As you are all aware, the economic landscape has changed very drastically in the last few months, so we've decided now was a good time to adjust the pricing," she added.

NetWeaver Development License subscriptions now cost US$1,170 and EUR1,071, down from $2,300 and EUR2,082.50. A lesser-featured NetWeaver Composition License is now priced at $520 and EUR476, a reduction from $1,100 and EUR1,011.50.

The reduced-cost subscription package includes the same features and components as before, Lagerholm wrote. Customers who signed up or renewed on or after Sept. 1 will get a six-month extension to compensate for the price change.

Subscriptions are still only available to users in Germany and the United States. SAP is not ready to give a date for other country launches, Lagerholm said.

SAP's move brought a thumbs up from the U.K.-based SAP consulting firm Pixelbase. "On the whole a very good move by SAP, enabling more developers to gain access to the full dev suite at a much reduced price," states a post on the company's blog. "The only remaining fly in the ointment now is the restriction to Germany and the US."

Additional comment from SAP could not immediately be obtained on Wednesday.