Apple Kills More Boxed Software In Favor of App Store

[MacRumors]

Apple has sent this missive to Apple Resellers and Apple Retail Stores discontinuing the boxed versions of several different software titles, presumably in favor of Mac App store versions:

Effective July 20, 2011, the following select boxed software products are end of life (EOL) for resellers and Apple Retail Stores:

- Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server
- iLife
- iWork
- Aperture
- Apple Remote Desktop
- GarageBand Jam Packs
- Mac Box Set

As noted in the email, most of these boxed copies will still be available from the Apple Online Store including Mac OS X Snow Leopard. They just won't be available at Apple Retail and reseller locations.

Article Link: Apple Kills More Boxed Software In Favor of App Store

 

[Andy-V]

So the only way to buy boxed software is online?

I'm mainly thinking of Snow Leopard which is required to even access the App Store.

 

[Cougarcat]

Will they be still available at university bookstores? The App Store doesn't offer any EDU pricing. iWork costs $39 at my bookstore.

 

[jonessodarally]

So the only way to buy boxed software is online?

I'm mainly thinking of Snow Leopard which is required to even access the App Store.

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

 

[pdjudd]

So the only way to buy boxed software is online?

I'm mainly thinking of Snow Leopard which is required to even access the App Store.

According to the OP it says the online Apple Store. Not the Mac App Store.

 

[thompson11]

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

 

[Eidorian]

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

I believe Apple is expecting you to purchase all your drive space from them to begin with.

 

[jonessodarally]

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

hmm... not sure. There's a lot to wrap our heads around with this update. I'm confused about a lot of it, and I'm the guy that my *normal* friends bug with questions.

 

[Nothlit]

Are they doing a firmware / EFI upgrade to accomplish that in pre-Lion Macs? Otherwise, without the recovery partition (e.g., a fresh hard drive) this doesn't seem possible.

No, on the recovery page it says only newly-released Macs (i.e., starting today) have Internet Recovery built into the firmware. Pre-Lion Macs will have it as a second partition on the HD after installing Lion, but if that HD fails or you install a clean HD, you won't have access to the recovery utility on those pre-Lion Macs.

 

[Cougarcat]

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

That will only work on new Macs going forward. Only the new Mini and MBA support it right now.
Edit: Beaten to it.

 

[nvbrit]

Actually, as of today, it appears that isn't true. Looks like you won't need SL, as long as you have access to internet.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/

the Lion recovery only works if a) you bought a new Mac with Lion pre-installed, or b) you have already installed Lion from Mac App Store.. otherwise you would not have the recovery partition.

 

[talmy]

iWeb and iDVD are now completely dead -- they aren't listed as being on new (Lion equipped) Macs, you can't get them from the Mac App Store, and the boxed iLife '11 is gone.

Also it would appear that the GarageBand Jam Packs are now all gone as well. Why would they do this?

Disclaimer: I tried iWeb when it first came out, haven't used iDVD in years, and never bought a Jam Pack, so if I'm a typical user there is nothing to lament.

Lion on a USB memory stick will be for sale later this year for those people trying to upgrade from Leopard.

 

[milo]

Did MR even read the screenshot they posted? The info in the article is totally inconsistent with what Apple sent out.

Apple didn't say they're killing the boxed versions, or that these apps will be exclusively through the app store. They said they will be sold on the Apple ONLINE Store.

Meaning they are still selling the boxed software, you just need to go to store.apple.com and order it from there - they're still selling the boxes, just not stocking them in apple brick and mortar stores or other apple resellers.

Is apple's email so hard to understand? It's easy enough to verify, go to store.apple.com and sure enough there's SL, iLife, etc.

 

[Rocketman]

Once you figure out what's going on here it makes sense. They are eliminating physical media as much as possible and lowering opportunities for resellers in favor of themselves in the "walled garden". Apple has historically forsaken dealers on some releases and that ethic has not changed.

That's why years ago I declined the "opportunity". Bag of hurt.

On the good side, this will make prices lower, restores convenient, and possibly even multi-machine licensing or installs easy ala their media offerings.

It is not a good thing for everyone, but probably is for users and of course Apple itself.

This is green. Eco and financial.

Rocketman

 

[dmula]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/9A5259f Safari/6533.18.5)

Welcome to 21 century.

 

[the8thark]

If you own an intel Mac with 10.4 or 10.5 now do you get 10.7?
Do you have to wait for the USB stick at the stores?

10.6 is a paradox.
Can't get it now without the App Store. But can't get the App Store unless you have 10.6.

 

[accessoriesguy]

Another step into the future! All software media is purchased and recieved digitally, good by music stores and software retail areas in major stores.

I wonder if that would make it harder to advertise to people. "yes we have iwork for macs for your office needs" but they will have to show it on a mac. There will be no shelf space for customers to find it and learn what it is, they would have to come across it by browsing or asking.

 

[cube]

Apple likes to make it difficult.

 

[the8thark]

I wonder if that would make it harder to advertise to people. "yes we have iwork for macs for your office needs" but they will have to show it on a mac. There will be no shelf space for customers to find it and learn what it is, they would have to come across it by browsing or asking.

The future of Apple is not showing you boxes instore. The future is showing you a display Mac and showing you the App in action. Seeing the App run and testing it out for yourself is way better then just reading about the App on a box.

So yes they have to show it to you on a display Mac or you need to see it on a display Mac. But that's the whole idea. Using and seeing in action is much better then reading off a box. And if Apple are smart they'll have a list of the installed software on the display Macs next to the Mac. So you know what exists.

 

[mazz0]

Apple likes to make it difficult.

It's not difficult to buy software from the app store, in fact it's easier than going to a shop or waiting for a delivery.

That is unless you were downloading one of the Lion previews, which just refused to work for me and many others (not the majority, as far as I know, so no need to chip in with "worked for me"), I had to download them using BitTorrent instead (Apple support were no help).

 

[cube]

It's not difficult to buy software from the app store, in fact it's easier than going to a shop or waiting for a delivery.

The Apple Online Store is inconvenient and 25% more expensive, even with brick and mortar retailers selling Snow Leopard at list price.

 

[paulsalter]

It's not difficult to buy software from the app store, in fact it's easier than going to a shop or waiting for a delivery.

Its not difficult to buy form the app store, but remember that many people dont have super fast broadband

I could have driven to the Apple store this afternoon, got home and installed Lion by now if it was on disc, instead of a 12 hour download

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Will they be still available at university bookstores? The App Store doesn't offer any EDU pricing. iWork costs $39 at my bookstore.

safe to say no.
It goes along with the fact Apple has been killings it EDU stuff for a while. The offers keep getting crappier and crappier.

 

[LoadStar]

I really feel for resellers these days. They're required to maintain a particular level of application sales in order to maintain their status as an authorized reseller... yet Apple goes and eliminates all of their boxed software. What, exactly, are they expected to sell? App Store gift cards? What's the point?

 

[*LTD*]

Good.

Less Waste. Greener. And extremely progressive.

I really feel for resellers these days. They're required to maintain a particular level of application sales in order to maintain their status as an authorized reseller... yet Apple goes and eliminates all of their boxed software. What, exactly, are they expected to sell? App Store gift cards? What's the point?

Depends what you're reselling.

Boxed software is going the way of the dinosaur.