EricaJoy

iMScrewed - A Love/Hate relationship with Apple

Before I begin this post, just a reminder that the views expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of my employer.

So perhaps you missed Apple’s press conference yesterday. Steve Jobs was happy to announce new versions of iLife, iWork, and sexy new iMacs. All very nice, I like new shiny things.

While I like shiny new things, I do not like being screwed. You see, the new iLife will come with all new Mac’s. For those of us who already have Mac’s, an iLife ‘08 upgrade can be ours for $79…which happens to be the same price as a full purchase of iLife ‘08.

Let’s break this down, shall we? I got my newest Macbook Pro about a month ago. I pay $79 for the new version of iLife. Jamie got a Macbook Pro on August 6. She has to pay $79 for the new version of iLife. John bought iLife from an Apple store an hour before Steve’s proclamation. John is royally screwed because John has to pay $79 for the new version too.

There is clearly a problem with that pricing model and its beginning to cause some grumbles in the Mac community. Sure, Apple has an “iLife Up to Date” program but that only covers iLife for Mac computers purchased on or after August 7. I find it sad and funny that people who qualify for the program still have to pay $10 to get the new iLife. It’s no wonder torrents for iLife ‘08 started appearing early this morning and entire copies of the software package were available in other places this afternoon.

Apple clearly has a problem with their iLife pricing model. The question is, will they fix it or will the illegal sharing of iLife become more prevalent in response?