Christmas in October: Apple has Some Great Prices

Last night I went to the nearest Apple store. The main reasons I had were to get a copy of Snow Leopard for my iMac, and to find out how to get some network information on said iMac at the Genius Bar.

While I was waiting for my turn at the Genius Bar, I was browsing around the store and noticed the prices of Apple products. Most stuff that's in the news I've read focuses around all the new features of product X or Y, but I haven't seen much talking about pricing.

I happened to glance over at a copy of Final Cut Express on the shelf and looked at the price. $199? First thought was: "No. That can't be right." Next thought was, "This must be an upgrade copy." No it wasn't. I was amazed. Just for grins I checked out the price for Final Cut Studio. About a year ago I bought Final Cut Express which was kind of pushing my budget, and back then when I looked at the price of Final Cut Studio (the full blown used by movie studio version), the price was in the stratosphere! Way way out of my league!

But here I was looking at a price of $999. Not super cheap true. But compared to what it used to cost, amazing! What did it used to cost before when I had checked? More than what I paid for Final Cut Express that's for sure! It's been awhile but I'm pretty sure it was over $8,000. More like close to $10,000. I remember how not in my ball-park the price was that I am sure of!

Other things I noticed: MacBooks (not Pro) were $999 . And MacBook Pros way less than they used to cost with more features than before. Apple has had a reputation for having computers that are more expensive than PCs. This reputation just might be coming to an end.

iLife used to be $99, and iWorks was $99 dollars as well. But they had this nifty package that included the latest version of iLife and iWorks and Snow Leopard for $169. Sweet!

So, I ended up leaving the store with the iWorks/iLife/Snow Leopard box set, Final Cut Studio, a small cable from "Monster" allowing me to plug my iPhone into my car's stereo system, and a big kid-like smile on my face! It was the best Christmas ever! Oh wait! It's not actually Christmas is it. LOL. I think this holiday season Apple is gonna sell allot of stuff and gain even more market share.

Google Search for "iPhone Obsessed"

Alright, at the time of this post my iPhone Obsessed blog is a small fish in a big pond. But hey! There is some increased interest in the iPhone Obsessed!
Check out the Google Insight chart below:



Move your mouse over different points to see the resulting number of searches.

iPhone Tech Talk World Tour 2009 is Coming

This free event has Apple technology evangelists coming to various cities giving advice on how to use various technologies in your iPhone Apps. Note: these Tech Talks are only available to developers who are in the iPhone Developer Program. The Tech Talks are in North America, Europe, and Asia. Sadly, there is no Tech Talk in Chicago this year. Bummer!

In North America the following cities will be visited:

• San Jose - October 29
• Seattle - November 2
• New York - December 1
• Toronto - December 3

For more info see http://developer.apple.com/events/iphone/techtalks/

Apple Now Offering In App Purchasing for Free Apps

On October 15th, Apple announced that they are giving developers of apps for the iPhone the ability to add in-app purchasing functionality to free apps. This is great news for developers and really the consumer too because it makes it possible that if you have a Lite (free) version of your app and a full (paid) version of your app, now you can have just one app to place on the app store that handles both scenarios.

Imagine a user can download the lite version for free. Try out the app. And, if they like it, purchase the full app inside. Shazam! The lite version of the app instantly transforms into the full version of the app without having to download any new app from the App Store!

And, of course, there is the possibility of doing up-grade purchase in app, subscriptions, etc.

Frustrated With iPhone Provisioning

Above is just a little video rant recorded on my web cam where I vent a little bit about my frustrations in trying to do app provisioning on my iPhone.