Snow Leopard upgrade terms detailed, include refurbished Macs
Although it would have been fun, Steve Jobs didn’t reappear today, let alone demonstrate the new Mac touch (aka iPod touch on steroids) while skydiving via a live webcast. But, Apple’s recent relative generosity continues with the announcement of fleshy specifics for the Mac OS X 10.6 Up-to-Date program.
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that our favorite fruit company, the Cupertino, CA-based maker of Macintosh computers, wants everyone to buy and use Snow Leopard, the next generation iteration of their highly successful operating system franchise. When Phil Schiller announced the stand alone retail upgrade will cost $29, there were cheers from the WWDC audience and Mac buyer upgrade terms will likely be met with cheers from the faithful, as well.
Yesterday, along with a teaser to get us to come back to today and learn more, the company said anyone buying a new Mac would be eligible to buy Snow Leopard for $9.95.
Today, the mothership has updated their Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program page with additional details on the terms, including the Mac buyers eligible for reduced pricing, which are surprisingly generous:
• New Mac buyers, and Apple Certified Refurbished Mac buyers from the Apple Online Store
• Multiple qualifying systems on a single invoice, you can either (1) purchase a Single-User Upgrade Kit for each qualifying product, at a cost of US$9.95; or (2) purchase fewer Single-User Upgrade Kits and request the Right to Copy for the remaining qualifying products.
• Customers who purchase a qualifying Xserve [ MA882LL/A, MB449LL/A. Z0E7, Z0FR, Z0GM ] or an Apple Certified Refurbished Xserve from the Apple Online Store
• Program ends December 26, 2009
See also:
— Phil Schiller’s WWDC 2009 keynote address now streaming [u]
— Snow Leopard won’t run on PowerPC Macs
— Apple begins 2009 back to school promo
What a pleasant surprise that refurbished Macs are included. Then again, refurbs should have been included in previous OS X, iWork or whatever up-to-date programs (if we’re paying the “Apple” tax, the least we can expect is fresh software cheap).
It’s also pleasantly surprising that the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program ends the day after Christmas, about three months after Snow Leopard’s September ship date, which gives everybody plenty of time to get in on the action. This highlights Apple’s use of the Snow Leopard roll out as marketing tool to attract switchers.
Thereupon, Apple’s terms for Snow Leopard, which is essentially an Intel optimization+ of Leopard (which rocked), really show penny wise and pound foolish Microsoft management is. After all, Windows 7 is just a usable rewrite of Vista, which is the biggest bomb ever (i.e. New Coke writ large) in the annals of tech…
What’s your take?
Related Posts:
