Future versions of OS X will be free, confirms Apple

Good news for iFans the world over. Apple has now confirmed that the future versions of OS X will be free. The information was given out by CFO Peter Oppenheimer during the company’s earning call held today, where the company revealed its fourth quarter results, according to reports. 

Last week, during a surprise October announcement event, Apple...

announced that OS X Mavericks would be available for free, but did not confirm whether future versions of the operating system would be free as well. Along with that announcement came the news that Apple was also rolling out free copies of iWork.

The announcement did not go unnoticed by competitor Microsoft, which was quick to put out a statement saying that Apple's productivity suite came with "watered down" apps. Apple went on to say that the future free versions of OS X as well as iWork will contribute to a $900 million sequential increase in net revenue being deferred for software upgrade rights and non-software services in the December quarter.

The deferral is being caused by a law that does not allow the company to count revenue from free upgrades unless the products they are a part of get delivered. While talking about this, Oppenheimer said, “We’ll see increased deferral rates thanks to this free software plus sequential unit increases. We’ll also defer $900 more than before in the September quarter through the December quarter. This will be a dollar for dollar reduction in gross margin.”

Rationalising the decision, Apple’s Tim Cook said, “The primary reason was to make it part of what it meant to own a Mac and an iOS device. iWork had become the best-selling productivity app on a mobile device, we wanted all of our customers to have access to our very latest software so they could get the best features. It was a bold move to make it free. Some other folks charge $199 for each of these – the OS and the productivity apps. We wanted to make it a part of the full experience. Going back to Snow Leopard on the OS side and iWork and iLife are free for all new Macs.”

The announcement, while criticised by competition, will definitely be welcomed by Apple users. It should be noted that Microsoft is currently charging Rs 4,199 per year or Rs 420 per month for Office 365 Home Premium suite. The Office Home and Business 2013 suite will set you back Rs 14,999, while the Office Professional Suite 2013 will cost Rs 26,999. Installing the company's native operating system, Windows 8, now costs users anywhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000.

Source:http://tech2.in.com/news/software/future-versions-of-os-x-will-be-free-confirms-apple/918940