Reuters seem to get it wrong by forgetting to mention that the three free applications included in iLife are still free when downloaded and thereby insinuating that Apple has slapped a price tag on the free applications in an article carried by USA Today among other notable publications. iDVD was never “free.” The article reads as follows:
“…the company’s legion of faithful users, accustomed to free software downloads, will face a $49 charge later this month for a bundled suite of software dubbed iLife… Alan Promisel, a research analyst for Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, praised iLife’s $49 pricetag, noting that Apple is one of the few companies able to impose fees on previously free products without a major customer revolt. But he doubted whether iLife would reverse Windows’ momentum. ‘It’s another source of revenue for them, and it does position the company in the top tier of multimedia applications in one package on a computer,’ Promisel said. ‘But without a lynchpin that causes people to switch to a Mac, I’m not sure it will really increase its market share.'” Full story here.
The correct information is that iLife’s three previously free components will be free to download for all. iTunes 3 is available for free now. iMovie 3 and iPhoto 2 will be available for free via download on January 25th.
You can contact Reuter’s Editorial staff here.
It seems to me that Apple’s lawers would be put to better use correcting bad reporting from mainstream press like USA Today rather than threatening legal action against rumour sites. If USA Today gets away with inacuracies like this how can anyone trust it when it comes to reports concerning local and international politics? Maybe if enough of you reading this visit the link provided above for the full article and send your “Bug Reports” to Apple they will take notice and do something about it.
Apple should have made it clear regarding which iapp was actually 49 dollars. By bundling free ones with the 49 dollar iDVD it gave the false impression that they were going to begin charging for all of them. There were even rumors on some Mac ‘news’ sites which claimed that Mac users would have to pay for upgrades in the future for these iapps. I think Mac users are still understandbly a little skiddish from Apple charging for the previosuly free iTools (.Mac) services and jumped to the conclusion that they were going to have to dig into their wallets again.
I think this is just a prelude to having to pay for the apps. I also agree with sol, the news media is, as a whole, highly inaccurate. This is a great example. For them to get this right should have been a no brainer. Just imagine how are off they are when covering the middle east or the stock market.
Rule #1 The media seldom reports on Apple Items correctly! So question it and don’t get up-tight.
USA Today altered the story in an attempt to take out the reporter’s error. But since the whole story was an attempt to trash Apple from the beginning based on the “charging now for what was free” lie, the tone and gist of the article remain, including the quote from the IDC moron who obviously didn’t know about the context and made a negative remark which the reporter could use to further slant the story. May be the USA Today editors need a little more feedback.
Charging for previously free products/services is a standard in the industry that even Microsoft follows. I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to explain what was being charged for and what wasn’t since it would have been screwed up anyway. USA Today probably has some backing by M$ somehow and probably has a division set up for trashing Apple. Trashing Apple is a favorite past time for many. Look at Wall Street when Apple announces a profitable quarter, Apple’s stock takes a nose dive. If M$ announced it was laying off all of it’s workers but 10 their stock would skyrocket. It doesn’t matter how bad Apple’s competitors are doing they are still favored.
So, what’s new!
Mistakes in news service reports are not grounds for legal actions. Freedom of speech alows us to be wrong or even to make mistakes.
Apple did make it clear. During the keynote, Jobs specifically pointed out that iTunes, iPhoto, and iMovie are free downloads and that iDVD is too big for free downloads and they have to charge for it. Also, it’s all over the iLife area on Apple’s site that they will be available for download.
I find it very disturbing that you would justify the lies reported by USA Today by calling it their freedom of speech. As I understand it that is a freedom to express an opinion in public, not a freedom to lie about the facts. Imagine if every corrupt CEO in your country justified their actions by claiming their freedom of speech. Kind of makes a mockery of everything that is good in your country doesn’t it?