One of the few sure things about this Expo was that Apple was going to charge $49 for its iApps bundle - iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto and iDVD (and possible iSync and iCal). Both News.com and Thinksecret ran well-founded stories anticipating the change - and sparked a major backlash among Mac users. Yet when Steve Jobs stood up yesterday, three of the Apps remained free, and only iDVD - the software for DVD burning, which is useful only to a small number of Mac users - was locked behind a $49 fee. What happened?
I have it on good authority that Apple briefed a few people about the iApps charge late last year. It was their intention until only a few days ago to levy a $49 charge for the whole bundle of upgraded digital media software. But, having witnessed online the unhappy reaction of Mac users to the charging plan (the software was previously free) Steve Jobs ordered that three of the four go free. Only iDVD - never available as a download anyway - would remain fee-only. Jobs, cursing the gossip sites, became concerned that the original plan might have drawn boos - and significant adverse publicity - had it gone ahead.
Looks like some online flames saved us all a few quid...
