> > > Now the wheels are turning. > > I go back to my previous comment, can you survive selling software for $10? > Apple, via iTunes & the iPad, is lowering the price of retail desktop > software; it will become a commodity market. > > IMHO, Software market for iPhone was totally new and closed market created by Apple. It was why Apple could set a standard price level in the market less than $10 by themselves. They were the creator of the market and there were no standard price for software yet.
But desktop software market is already out there and there are agreed standard prices by every participants already. If Apple wants to lower the market prices of current desktop softwares, they have to persuade some major players in this market. If you were the player, will you agree to lower your price? I won't. Most of all, what can be the possible reason that Apple wants to lower the prices for Mac softwares? As you can see from this thread, a lot of Mac developers will leave if Apple take that action. And it will decrease the number of great mac apps and finally, the number of Mac users. Even though iPhone and iPad are evolving market, Mac is still important for Apple because it is a platform that support all other devices. (Somebody tell me the percentage of sales of Mac in Apple's total sales. I guess it is not so small.) There are different usages for different devices. iPhone and or iPad cannot replace Mac yet. (I mean, not yet.) I think Apple will open AppStore for Mac apps soon. But I don't think it will mean lowering the prices. Regards, [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
