WWDC-ul se apropie si zvonuri noi legate de serviciul iCloud si Mac OS X Lion incep sa apara. Cei de la Appleinsider au obtinut informatii care indica faptul ca Apple ar putea oferi anumite functii ale iCloud gratuit pentru cei care cumpara Mac OS X Lion. Se pare ca pentru acesti utilizatori Apple ar fi pregatit anumite functii ale iCloud asemanatoare cu cele din MobileMe insa serviciul de streaming audio nu va fi printre ele. Cei care fac update la Mac OS X Lion vor beneficia probabil de posibilitatea de a isi incarca online pozele, de a hosta un website sau de a avea un cont de email si toate acestea gratuit. Serviciul de streaming online a necesitat incheierea unor intelegeri cu casele de discuri din SUA si costurile acestor intelegeri vor fi suportate de utilizatori. Se zvoneste ca iCloud va inlocui MobileMe insa pretul de 99$ va fi pastrat pentru toata lumea si cei care cumpara un abonament vor beneficia si de functia de online streaming.
People familiar with Apple’s plans indicated to AppleInsider that at least one of those secrets is expected to be that at least some of the services included in iCloud will be offered for free to Mac users who make the upgrade to Lion. iCloud is expected to replace the company’s existing MobileMe service, which offers e-mail and remote file storage, along with syncing of bookmarks, contacts and calendar events, at a price tag of $99 per year.
That price tag may remain for users who do not make the upgrade to Lion, or for Windows users. But it is expected that the cloud services will become free to Mac users who run the latest version of Mac OS X.
Mac OS X Lion ar putea fi oferit de Apple la pret promotional pentru a convinge cat mai multi utilizatori sa faca trecerea la noul sistem de operare. Nu se stie deocamdata pretul final al sistemului insa avand in vedere ca Apple ar putea distribui Mac OS X Lion prin Mac App Store am putea asista la o scadere a pretului multumita eliminarii cheltuielilor generate de vanzarile fizice. In general Apple cerea 129$ pentru noile versiuni ale Mac OS X, Snow Leopard fiind singura exceptie avand in vedere ca pretul de achizitie a fost de doar 29$. Nu se stie cat anume va costa Mac OS X Lion insa Apple pare sa pregateasca o politica de preturi foarte agresiva in ideea de a atrage cat mai multi utilizatori catre platforma sa.
It’s possible that the lower price could also be tied to purchasing Lion through the Mac App Store. The company already does this by selling its professional photography software, Aperture, for $79.99 in the App Store — a price more $120 lower than the $199.99 Apple charges for a boxed copy of Aperture 3, and even $20 less than the $99 Aperture 3 Upgrade.
Whether Apple will choose to go with the same sub-$30 pricing of Snow Leopard when Lion goes on sale is unknown.
