Prior to Apple's release of Snow Leopard, most new operating systems they released were around $129 USD or so. When Snow Leopard was released, they significantly dropped the price of the operating system, simply charging $29 USD for it (seriously, what a steal).
Many speculated that Apple did this because there were no significant visual changes to the operating system -- most of the improvements were "under the hood." Based on the leaked screenshots from developer previews for the upcoming operating system, it doesn't look like Apple is changing too much on the visual front (Apple's ridiculous obsession with skeuomorphism in individual apps not withstanding).
What do you think Apple will do with the upcoming version of their operating system? Will they raise the price back up to $129? Or will they keep it at a much more attractive price?
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How much do you think Mac OS X Lion will cost when released?
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dave's pick
A $30-50 MSRP with distribution through the Mac App Store seems fairly likely to me given the changes in Apple's desktop software pricing since the introduction of the Mac App Store. Perhaps physical copies will cost slightly more?
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dave's pick
In the past, there never was an "upgrade" price for OS X. It cost $129... period. Snow Leopard was the first time they lowered the price, but they said that it was only sold as an upgrade since it would only run on Intel machines, meaning they would already be running 10.4 or 10.5. If I remember correctly, there had been talk that people running 10.4 were going to have to pay the full price, but that never really panned out and the stores only stocked the upgrade version since you could run the upgrade version on a clean drive anyway.
Snow Leopard was mostly meant to be a bug fix for Leopard, and very little additional was added, hence, the lower price. I fully expect the full, boxed version to be $129. I assume there will be an upgrade version you can download and install through the Mac App Store. I would bet on $49 for that, but they may stick with $29 since people are used to that. Free? No way in Steve's Alternate Reality that'll happen.
Snow Leopard was mostly meant to be a bug fix for Leopard, and very little additional was added, hence, the lower price. I fully expect the full, boxed version to be $129. I assume there will be an upgrade version you can download and install through the Mac App Store. I would bet on $49 for that, but they may stick with $29 since people are used to that. Free? No way in Steve's Alternate Reality that'll happen.
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I think they really spoiled everyone with the $29 price tag for Snow Leopard, and jumping back to $129 would turn some people away from upgrading.
During their keynotes, Apple likes to tout how much of their userbase is always running the latest version of OS X. To ensure that trend continues, I predict they'll keep the price at $29 or, at worst, somewhere in the middle.
During their keynotes, Apple likes to tout how much of their userbase is always running the latest version of OS X. To ensure that trend continues, I predict they'll keep the price at $29 or, at worst, somewhere in the middle.
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I'm betting $29. Snow Leopard had a lot of changes, but they were all under the hood bits for developers to take advantage of. The $29 price tag helped ensure a quick upgrade cycle, so the developers could justify making 10.6 only apps. 10.7 is very similar, in that it brings a lot of developer aimed features to OS X, mostly features that came to life in iOS.
Anything over $99 is going to be silly, since it's now only $99 to gain access to the Mac developer program, where you get one copy of the current OS "for development purposes". I can't see Apple pricing the retail copy higher then what they charge developers.
Anything over $99 is going to be silly, since it's now only $99 to gain access to the Mac developer program, where you get one copy of the current OS "for development purposes". I can't see Apple pricing the retail copy higher then what they charge developers.
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It's going to be cheap like Snow Leopard. If Leopard to Snow Leopard was $30, this is about the same amount of upgrade.
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Snow Leopard was a minor upgrade in comparison to Lion, so I think they will step up the price tag to match the functionalities. I would say somewhere between $99 to $139.
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I think they'll keep it under $50. Especially when they dropped the prices for Aperture and Final Cut Pro, it would be far-fetched that Apple would be consistent with their "discounted" software prices.
By keeping the price range between $29-$49, users would find it cheap and easy to upgrade as soon as they can and will keep majority of users up-to-date to Apple's latest software updates and patches.
Besides, Apple makes more money with Hardware sales and Appstore Sales (30% or 3rd party sales).
By keeping the price range between $29-$49, users would find it cheap and easy to upgrade as soon as they can and will keep majority of users up-to-date to Apple's latest software updates and patches.
Besides, Apple makes more money with Hardware sales and Appstore Sales (30% or 3rd party sales).
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I almost agree with Obamnizer but my reasoning is different. I think Apple no longer wants to charge for OS upgrades. iOS upgrades no longer cost money for iPod touch owners, but Apple originally had to charge, I believe, for tax reasons. Additionally, if I recall correctly, the reason Facetime costs .99 in the Mac App Store is tax purposes and I imagine that if they could get rid of those limitations Steve would be happy. Apple might like to go from $29 to free as it isn't a huge loss given the good press they would get if they really did provide new versions of the OS for free, but that might not be possible so maybe 15-30, with an eye towards free in the future.
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I would bet on a $50 price point. This isn't the refresh of Snow Leopard but not as substantial as earlier OS upgrades.
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I think they will stick with the $29 price and I would be shocked if the price was more that $49.
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I agree with aaron. If Apple hikes the price back to a $100+ cost to upgrade I think a lot of people will be turned off. Apple is bringing some very significant UI changes that users may not want to pay a high price for. A $30 - $50 upgrade cost sounds much more realistic.
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I don't think it will be as cheap as Snow Leopard or as expensive as Leopard.
They will probably price it in between.
If you look at Aperture which was sold for 199$ before the Mac App Store and now being sold for 79,99$ I think they will sell Lion for 79,99$ too. Throught the Mac App Store of course.
They will probably price it in between.
If you look at Aperture which was sold for 199$ before the Mac App Store and now being sold for 79,99$ I think they will sell Lion for 79,99$ too. Throught the Mac App Store of course.
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If they want to push this thing out through the App Store, the lower the price the better. And selling it digitally would save them money on packaging, so they'd make more on each sale.
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I had thought that previous versions of OS X were $79 for individual and $129 for a family pack. Snow Leopard was $29 because it was more or less a service pack (although this shouldn't discount the performance improvements). So my bet is on $79.
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It will be $39 from the Mac App Store, tied to your iTunes account. This eliminates people swapping discs with friends. It'll also be available on thin USB drives, similar to the ones that currently ship with the MacBook Air, and easily fit on a keychain (I carry my copy of Snow Leopard right on there!) There will not be any price differentiation between the App Store version and the USB/disc version.
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