Snow Leopard, the newest version of Mac OS X, was one of the few things on show at the WWDC keynote that you won’t be able to get a hold of this month, but we already know the cost: just $29 stateside to upgrade from Leopard when it launches in September.
Funnily enough, that’s just around the time when Windows 7 will be launching – for a still undisclosed sum. Is Apple trying to spark a price war here?
Snow Leopard had a stack of great new features when it was shown off last night, but what really impressed us was the price: to upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard costs $29 (UK pricing is still TBC).
It’s not hard to see the immediate benefit: Apple has updated its operating system far more frequently than Microsoft has Windows, and so needs a compelling reason to get Mac addicts to cough up once more. The $49 5-Mac upgrade license for Snow Leopard meanwhile is an absolute steal, and ought to tempt anyone with a multi-Mac home to take the plunge. But is Apple trying to sway new computer buyers from Windows? In the US, Apple is only charging $10 in shipping for Snow Leopard with new Macs.
Windows 7 is free until well into next year, and generally meeting positive reviews compared to the operating system who must not be named. But Microsoft is going to charge for it eventually, and at a price it’s yet to confirm. There have been rumours though of a $50 tag for Windows 7 Home edition, which suggest Redmond is heading in the right direction for consumers, but Apple’s pricing could give it an extra boost still.
With Apple reducing the cost of its operating system to that of a video game, we reckon Microsoft has to hit back with a price slash of its own if it wants to carry on marketing itself as the cheaper option. We should find out before it rolls out in October.
Mate, that’s the upgrade price…
I have been using osx on a new Macbook for three months and realy like it and would recomend it to anyone.Last year I built a gaming PC with Vista but hated Vista and down graded it XP,if there is going to be a price war between snow leopard and Windows7, M$ need to have a better os than Vista,if you want to see why snow leapord is going to be so good watch the demo at Apple.com for yesterdays WWDC keynote
@Bob – good spot and now clarified in the article. But $10 for the upgrade for anyone who buys a new Mac between now and December? Seems more than reasonable. The only people that really leaves out of pocket are people just coming to the Hackintosh scene.