Who knew Apple would become such a big shareware company?
Today’s product event in San Francisco will be known more for the introduction of new iPads, MacBooks and Mac Pros, but what’s might be even more interesting is how Apple has decided to give away key software for free, including its long-awaited upgrade to Mac OS X, codenamed Mavericks.
Mavericks and two other software suites, iWork and iLife are now available for download, free of charge. This continues an ongoing trend at Apple of lowering software prices—the previous version of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion, cost only $30. Compare that to Microsoft, which charges $120 for the base version of its latest OS, Windows 8.1, and $200 for Windows 8.1 Pro.
By going free, Apple has acknowledged something that’s been true in the industry for years: software is a means to sell hardware. Sure, there are some specialized applications that can command a hefty profit margin, but bread-and-butter applications used in the mainstream are not things you sell. They are things people get when they turn on that shiny new object they just shelled out for.
This runs counter to Microsoft’s DNA as—at least until very recently—a software company. And let’s give Redmond some credit: That strategy worked really, really well for a while. But just as there’s been a shift in interest to well-designed devices (as opposed to the beige boxes that defined the PC era), so has there been an expectation that software be as seamless and costless as possible. Your browser is free, so is Gmail/Yahoo Mail/etc. and Google Maps doesn’t cost anything.
Apple’s strategy here is to get you on a device and with the latest version of their software as quickly and painlessly as possible. Do they want to be caught up in the intricacies of a pricing scheme for OS X Mavericks? No, they do not. Better to just remove price as a consideration and make it part of the device you are using. Apple CEO Tim Cook likes to talk about the perfect integration of hardware and software that Apple aims to achieve. By making OS X, iLife, and iWork free of charge, they can achieve that goal even faster.
