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Apple Launches $0.99 Mac FaceTime App on Mac App Store

odedia said:
Obviously, this will replace iChat AV in OS X Lion. I think I'll just wait (Heck, I don't even have an iPhone 4 :)).
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This is where I hope you are wrong. The only reason I use iChat is for the screen sharing mode. This is how I provide tech support to family members all over the country (now that I switched them)

GL
 
People pay 5 times that every day for a cup of coffee. It costs 50 times that to fill up just one of my cars with gasoline every week. How much does Netflix cost per month? Or Hulu?

I think most people can spare this expense and find value in it.

Now I'm going to buy a blueberry muffin for $1.49. Damn bakers and blueberry growers not giving me food for free and not working for nothing.
 
Per PR on Yahoo...

The MacBook Pro now includes a built-in FaceTime HD camera with triple the resolution of the previous generation for crisp, widescreen video calls. With Apple’s innovative FaceTime video calling software, the new camera allows high definition video calls between all new MacBook Pro models and supports standard resolution calls with other Intel-based Macs, iPhone® 4 and the current generation iPod touch®. FaceTime is included with all new MacBook Pro models and is available for other Intel-based Macs from the Mac® App Store℠ for 99 cents. The MacBook Pro lineup continues to feature its gorgeous aluminum unibody enclosure, glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, LED-backlit widescreen display, illuminated full-size keyboard and 7-hour battery.**

I interpret that to mean it's included with new Macs, but I'll wait for clarification.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Apple-Updates-MacBook-Pro-bw-1998290062.html?x=0&.v=1
 
So when does Apple make the move to charge people for installing apps on their computers that AREN'T in the app store.

You know - like a "cork" fee at some restaurants when you bring your own wine ;)

I don't think .99 is a lot. I just have no desire to throw money into something I would use once or twice when there are plenty of free options to use instead.

I also think it sets the scary precedent of other OS features being "premium" content. But we'll have to wait and see...
 
It's a manner of principal more-so than cost. To me this software's not worth a penny, let alone ninety-nine of them. I rarely ever used iChat as it is and more importantly the average I.M. client is free. Why would I pay for something I can get for ... free? Oh!

Edit: I dunno, you're generally not allowed to bring your own wine to a restaurant and drink it there since it'd cut into the business' sales. If OSX was locked down so I couldn't bring my own alternative maybe it'd be worth the price buuut I likely wouldn't be an OSX user at that point...
 
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I'm torn over Apple charging even .01.

The "this is a dumb move" argument:

On one hand Apple wants people to adopt IT'S technologies. Apple make it's big money on h/w not s/w. The s/w is the candy trail to get people to buy more expensive than other similar branded h/w. Charging for a nickel and dime program like this which for the most part comes w/ 10.6 is kinda lame. The money Apple makes on this is minor compared to the good will Apple would create, in addition to more people adopting FT were it n/c for 10.6 users.

The "hey, FT development cost $ and I need to recoup costs" argument:

However, 10.6 was a dirt cheap upgrade so I see why Apple may not want to give away new features, even if they are sub-sets of those already in the OS. They want to recoup some R&D costs and .99 is certainly worth the price of admission if the majority of your friends/fam have FT compatible devices.

The "I hope this is the future" wish:

But what I 100% like and hope Apple adopts it in 10.7 is OS modules. That is rather than sell a big bloated OS w/ 1,000 features 1% of users will use, sell the OS at a low price like 10.6 but then also don't include a lot of features. Make non-essential features, like FT, an "in app" type upgrade. That way you pay only for what you want don't have to deal with the bloat of all the unused features.
 
Yay! I just got my new $1,200 MacBook Pro! I can't wait to try FaceTime HD on it.....wait WTF it costs $1????? FU Apple this is sooo expensive!!:mad:
 
This is the stupidest thing ever. Now it's guaranteed facetime will never take off. What chat app has ever become popular that had to be paid for? None. What next, gonna start charging for Finder? iChat? Gonna have to buy every app in OSX separately for .99? This is just a bad trend. I was worried when that stupid app store took off, I really hope it fails.
 
I don't get it? So what about the Beta Facetime on the mac we downloaded several months ago? Is it now obsolete?
 
Chupa Chupa said:
The "I hope this is the future" wish:

But what I 100% like and hope Apple adopts it in 10.7 is OS modules. That is rather than sell a big bloated OS w/ 1,000 features 1% of users will use, sell the OS at a low price like 10.6 but then also don't include a lot of features. Make non-essential features, like FT, an "in app" type upgrade. That way you pay only for what you want don't have to deal with the bloat of all the unused features.
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No. No. No. No. No.

This is effectively what MS have done with their different Home, Home Premium, Business etc etc versions of Windows.

Apple already charge an Apple tax on their hardware, this is just being incredibly cheap on their part. I do not want to see a "modularized" OS at all.
 
wha? I mean they sell it as a feature and they want me to pay for it..
I don't do video calls anyways...
 
lol why all the complaining its only 1$. Sometimes it seems you people will take any excuse to vent your frustrations and anger.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
But what I 100% like and hope Apple adopts it in 10.7 is OS modules. That is rather than sell a big bloated OS w/ 1,000 features 1% of users will use, sell the OS at a low price like 10.6 but then also don't include a lot of features. Make non-essential features, like FT, an "in app" type upgrade. That way you pay only for what you want don't have to deal with the bloat of all the unused features.
Click to expand...

Chupa - the problem with that - is that right now OS upgrades aren't really that expensive. I think I paid - what - $29 or $39? And that included all the bells and whistles.

Now - say Apple strips the OS to essentials and then charges a premium for other features. How low do you think they'd really go when selling that new OS. They are still going to charge a decent base price because the development costs haven't changed. They also can't "bank" on $x per install of premiums.

So if they charge .99 per premium item (or more) - the cost could then become HIGHER to the end user vs selling it as an all-inclusive OS.

Who can say for sure - time will tell. I just, personally, don't like the precedent.
 
Soonerpet said:
Gonna have to buy every app in OSX separately for .99? This is just a bad trend. I was worried when that stupid app store took off, I really hope it fails.
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No, it's a good trend as I noted above. It would be fantastic if future OSes were only improvements on overall computer functionality and all the "bonus" features were extra cost. Lower cost upgrades and no bloat. What is terrible about that?
 
Can a MOD please add a Survey to this thread asking who would buy, wouldn't buy or doesn't care about FaceTime.

the Positive/Negative seems to be WAY onsides right now too.

We should all try and not buy this app and see if Apple gets the message!
 
LOL @ 99 cents. Oh well, if I would need FaceTime on my Mac, I would of course buy that. It's basically free. Which makes you wonder why they didn't just make it free.
 
JS77 said:
No. No. No. No. No.

This is effectively what MS have done with their different Home, Home Premium, Business etc etc versions of Windows.

Apple already charge an Apple tax on their hardware, this is just being incredibly cheap on their part. I do not want to see a "modularized" OS at all.
Click to expand...

Short version: "Everything you need, right out of the box." ~:apple:

;)
 
JS77 said:
No. No. No. No. No.

This is effectively what MS have done with their different Home, Home Premium, Business etc etc versions of Windows.

Apple already charge an Apple tax on their hardware, this is just being incredibly cheap on their part. I do not want to see a "modularized" OS at all.
Click to expand...

No. It's nothing like what MS does. What MS does is gives users the option of 3 versions. You are still stuck with bloat of the Premium version even if you just want ONE feature in it.

On the contrary, what I'm suggesting is that there is ONE Mac OS version like there now is, and then you can go to the App Store, when needed, and buy whatever other feature you need for whatever the market price is.
 
Since I never even got the beta to work, I'm sure as heck not going to be spending money on it. The only time I'd use this would be for my wife to facetime me when I'm out or for me to facetime my wife when she's out, since we're the only 2 people I know with an iPhone 4. The problem is, both phones are tied to the same apple ID... Is that why I can't get it to work? I had assumed facetime would have been tied to the phone, not the account, but that doesnt' appear to be the case. Am I missing something? Could I call my wife or my own phone from my mac.... with all 3 being tied to the same apple account?
 
MarximusMG said:
I think it's a bit ridiculous to charge for an application such as this. Not a smart move, Apple.
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I agree that it's surprising, but nothing I get worked up about. If I would need FaceTime on my Mac, it's a no-brainer. I spend more on the gas cost for a single trip to town and back. But what's weird is how they don't make it free when it's so cheap anyway.

Although the difference is minimal, it would look much better.
 
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