POLL - Price for Lion - WORKING!

[3282868]

If being a developer is around £100 a year and they get free Lion downloads, I'd say it'd have to be less than £100. My guess is around the £80 price range, like Leopard was.

Developers do not receive the commercial release, yet in the past OS X development cost a lot more.

Apple Drops Mac Developer Program Cost to $99

Apple revamped its Mac OS X Developer Program late on Thursday, and the most notable change was a substantial membership price reduction. Instead of paying at least US$499 annually to participate in the Apple Developer Connection Program, memberships now cost only $99 a year.

Since the launch of the OS X App Store, Apple planned on lowering OS X development membership in order to entice more developers, bringing in more $$$ and popularity to its iOS-esque OS X App store.

 

[jeanlain]

There won't be upgrade versions of family packs. The App Store doesn't sell those. (and In fact, Apple doesn't usually sell OS X ugrades)
There will be a single version (client and server).
It will be cheaper on the App Store. I'd say 79$ on the Store and 129$ (box). Maybe a family pack in box, but I doubt it.

 

[jeanlain]

Developers do not receive the commercial release.

Yes they do.

 

[3282868]

Yes we/I do.

In the past, yes, but now that Apple has dropped the cost of OS X membership development, it is no longer the case, forgot about that fact

 

[jeanlain]

They may not "receive" commercial OS X releases by mail, but registered Mac devs currently have free access to Lion 11A390, Snow Leopard 10A432 and Snow Leopard Server 104433, full install.

 

[3282868]

They may not "receive" commercial OS X releases by mail, but registered Mac devs currently have free access to Lion 11A390, Snow Leopard 10A432 and Snow Leopard Server 104433, full install.

Yeah, and I still have Leopard beta's that had some great features that didn't make it to the GM build. I loved that "Answering Machine" feature in iChat, recording a video or audio away message and allowing others to leave one in return. Was a great idea, especially for the deaf, and Apple was experimenting with VoIP and landlines with iChat for a possible home communications system.

 

[talmy]

In the past, yes, but now that Apple has dropped the cost of OS X membership development, it is no longer the case, forgot about that fact

As I said earlier in this thread:

I just joined the developer program (I actually do develop software!). Among the downloads available are OS X Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server, both the current releases and the 10.6.7 seeds. Also a bunch of other programs, SDKs and OSes back to 10.2 Jaguar.

 

[ivnj]

I agree, probably $129 as always. But cheaper would not hurt either.

 

[3282868]

As I said earlier in this thread:

How does this relate to anything I stated? I have been developing since OS 10.1. My point was this is the first time Apple dropped memberships for BETA 10.X development to the same price as iOS development, $99 (current incremental beta's are a different matter and always have been, OS X 10.X beta's are a different matter, or at least have been until now). That's all. In the past, OS X GM builds have been available but in some cases the GM build may not be the commercial release. As the membership price for OS X development has been significantly lowered I will be surprised if they allow developers access to the commercial release. Again, this is a completely different method than previous development. As an iOS developer we do have access to the final release, however iOS software updates are FREE whereas OS X 10.X updates are not and will never be, so Apple is only knowledgable in the matter.

 

[Sodner]

$79 Single, $99 Family

So how do they keep it from being installed on multiple Mac's if it's downloaded from the App Store?

 

[ThaDoggg]

I will most likely buy a new MBP in the next month or so...I hope Lion will only be $29 so that it won't be too big of a hit to the wallet if I decide to upgrade.

 

[TxdoHawk]

I would be pretty shocked if Lion's pricing scheme was much more expensive than Snow Leopard's. What is really there to justify it? This seems like even less of a jump than Snow Leopard.

 

[tbobmccoy]

I would be pretty shocked if Lion's pricing scheme was much more expensive than Snow Leopard's. What is really there to justify it? This seems like even less of a jump than Snow Leopard.

The Snow Leopard jump was actually a lot smaller on the face, but I agree with you; Apple in lowering the price of their OS updates is going to instill an expectation that OS updates are going to be cheap in the future. And honestly, why not? Apple already has a lot of $ from you BUYING a Mac, so having relatively cheap OS updates to keep it alive and going adds to the value of the machine, if you ask me.

 

[talmy]

In the past, OS X GM builds have been available but in some cases the GM build may not be the commercial release. As the membership price for OS X development has been significantly lowered I will be surprised if they allow developers access to the commercial release. Again, this is a completely different method than previous development.

The new program offers fewer benefits than the old, at a much reduced price. However all OSes back to 10.2 are still available for download, and frankly all OSes should continue to be for development purposes. I was doing Windows development for many years and was in their program. Access to all the OSes was critical.

I haven't suggested that anyone get the developer license to get around buying the commercial version. I bought it just for testing. And I expect the commercial release to be very low cost, probably through the Mac App Store.

To quote from the license agreement:

Purpose
You would like to use Apple Software for testing and/or development of products designed to operate on or in combination with Apple-branded products running Mac OS X. Apple is willing to grant You a limited license to use the
Apple Software provided to You under this Program to develop and test Your products on the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement.

and also

"Mac OS X" means the Mac OS X operating system software provided by Apple for use by You under this Agreement in connection with Your Application development and testing, which, from time to time during the Term, may
consist of an Apple confidential, pre-release version of the Mac OS X operating system software or a gold master "GM" production, non-Apple confidential, commercially-available version of the Mac OS X operating system
software (or any successor thereto).

the "from time to time" makes the agreement pretty nebulous, I must admit.

Finally:

Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, Apple hereby grants You during the Term, a limited, non-exclusive, personal, revocable, non-sublicensable and non-transferable license to:
(a) Install a reasonable number of copies of the Apple Software on Apple-branded computers owned or controlled by You, to be used internally by You or Your Authorized Developers solely for purposes of developing or testing
Applications designed to operate on or in combination with Mac OS X; provided however that if the Apple Software is accompanied by a separate license agreement, then you agree that the license agreement accompanying
such materials shall govern Your use of such materials;

 

[Sky Blue]

What is really there to justify it?

There's a ton of new "advertisable" features in Lion: LaunchPad, Full Screen Apps, Mission Control, Auto Save, Versions, Resume, Full Disk Encryption, AirDrop etc.
Plus, just about every corner of the OS has been tweaked and improved.
Also, people are forgetting that OS X Server is now included, which used to retail for $499.
If Apple do release a boxed copy in retail stores, I'd be surprised if it retails for under $129.

 

[scottgroovez]

Hallo Apple said that there gonna be taking the best of iOS and bringing it to th Mac. And what did they just start doing with iOS 4. Free Updates! Mac OS Lion will be FREE! I mean it makes total sense. Obviously if there is a disk version THAT won't be free. But to entice people to use the digital way, they'll make the diskless version free. I mean, the only reason he new iLife cost money to rebuy was because there wasn't a previous digital version to update from. But I guess that still doesn't explain why FaceTime is being sold for a buck then I guess. All well maybe Apple will just sell it for a buck then maybe if not free.

Apple charged $1 for facetime, I highly doubt their accounting department will allow them to give it away gratis.

 

[3282868]

To quote from the license agreement:


and also

the "from time to time" makes the agreement pretty nebulous, I must admit.

Finally:

Good points. Wow things have changed!

Looking forward to the "official" beta release (hopefully tomorrow) as engineers and designers have had a months worth of input/debugging. Looking forward to what lies ahead as the beta's are released more frequently.

 

[talmy]

There's a ton of new "advertisable" features in Lion: LaunchPad, Full Screen Apps, Mission Control, Auto Save, Versions, Resume, Full Disk Encryption, AirDrop etc.

Well, the first three might sell Macs to iOS customers, but LaunchPad is frivolous, there are already full screen apps (and Lion's version so far is a bust if you have multiple displays), and Mission Control is a mashup of existing features (Dashboard, Spaces, Expose). Auto Save, Versions, and Resume require cooperation from applications (meaning version upgrades and probably more money). Full Disk Encryption is good for the security conscious , which excludes 99% of the public. I haven't figured out the point of AirDrop over existing network file sharing. I must admit that I've only put Lion on one (external) hard drive so far and can't check Lion to Lion services like AirDrop.

Plus, just about every corner of the OS has been tweaked and improved.

Like Snow Leopard, at $29.

Also, people are forgetting that OS X Server is now included, which used to retail for $499.

Two problems with this. It's missing features of Snow Leopard Server, so existing server customers may be in trouble (of course features might reappear). And most customers neither need nor want a server OS.

$29, Mac App Store.

 

[3282868]

Like Snow Leopard, at $29.


Two problems with this. It's missing features of Snow Leopard Server, so existing server customers may be in trouble (of course features might reappear). And most customers neither need nor want a server OS.

$29, Mac App Store.

That's not entirely accurate. The reason Apple listed an OS X for that price (10.6) was due to the fact that from a consumer stand point all the features from Leopard were present, nothing new "feature" specific was implemented. The OS was reworked, but only individuals such as us who are knowledgable in system infrastructures would understand that benefit. Having worked at Apple, selling Snow Leopard to Leopard owners was difficult as most, even at $29, didn't understand the difference. Phil Schiller publicly stated the low cost was a one time deal in order to entice Leopard owners. As well, Apple's EULA policy required ownership of Leopard to qualify for the $29 price, otherwise Tiger and below owners had to purchase the Snow Leopard/iWork/iLife box set.

So again, stating that Snow Leopard's price of $29 for Leopard owners as setting any precedent is erroneous as there were many factors for that decision. It has been asked on the Lion developer forum and Cupertino mod's have "hinted" that 10.7 will not be available at a price point near that low. Sorry.

 

[spillproof]

I think Apple will price Lion over $50.

 

[macanaw]

POLL - Price for Lion - WORKING!

Hmmm...turns out everyone who spotted $30 is right!
Nice!

 

[Jare]

Hmmm...turns out everyone who spotted $30 is right!
Nice!

Good job bumping an almost year old thread.

 

[talmy]

Hey, it's refreshing to be reminded that I got it right!

New prediction - $29 for Mountain Lion.

 

[macanaw]

Good job bumping an almost year old thread.

Thanks! Ha! I choose to take your sarcasm in the best humor, Canuck!

 

[jlc1978]

But I guess that still doesn't explain why FaceTime is being sold for a buck then I guess. All well maybe Apple will just sell it for a buck then maybe if not free.

FaceTime cost $1 due to US accounting rules. If Apple gave it away they potentially would have to restate earnings - not something they wanted to do. iPhone updates can be free because the revenue is accounted for differently than the Mac's.