iCloud and OS X Lion Pricing Rumors Start Raining Down
June 2, 2011
Apple, who announced iCloud on Tuesday, is keeping otherwise quiet about its planned pricing structure for the remote media storage and streaming service. As expected, though, small rumors are bubbling up in these last few days before June 6's WWDC keynote presentation.
Neil Hughes of AppleInsider has received a couple tips about Apple's forthcoming approach, and -- on the surface -- they both seem pretty plausible.
First, iCloud services are said likely to be free for every Mac user who upgrades to OS X Lion. However, that only applies to basic utilities, as premium streaming services for music and movies would obviously come with monthly or yearly fees.
Secondly, Mac OS X Lion itself will presumably carry an inexpensive price tag, much like Snow Leopard did when it launched back in 2009. Explains Hughes,
Whether Apple will choose to go with the same sub-$30 pricing of Snow Leopard when Lion goes on sale is unknown. But software now plays a very small part in Apple's bottom line, and the company is said to be interested in ensuring that users quickly upgrade to the latest version of Mac OS X, through incentives and low barriers to entry... Apple executives are said to have so much confidence in Lion, they believe the new operating system will help the company carve away even more market share from traditional Windows PCs. The idea is near-ubiquitous adoption of Lion on Macs will go a long way in promoting the Mac platform and further expand Apple's market penetration.It is possible Apple could implement an exclusive Mac App Store sale on Lion like it does for some of its other in-house software, but it's hard to imagine the price being too high wherever you buy the OS. We'll all know lots more come Monday afternoon, so stay tuned. And, you know what? Do get your hopes up!