Chance of Leopard Date Confirm + "Coupon"?

[jerry1]

So, in a perfect world, I'm hoping for a confirmation from Apple of a release date for Leopard. I further hope that Apple "might" follow the announcement with a coupon or credit that would enable customers that purchase Mac's after the announcemet, but before the Leopard release date to get a free (or discounted) upgrade from Tiger to Leopard.

Anybody think this is actually a possibility? It would make sense to me to step up the hype a few weeks ahead of time. Although keeping my eye on Apple recently, I'm not so confident this will happen. If they do, it would likely hurt sales until the release date, which would theoretically make the upgrade coupon/discount a good idea.

Soon, I will be buying my first Mac (iMac) but I'm not so keen on buying a machine with a brand new operating system. I'm also not excited about paying for an upgrade to Leopard in 6-12 months after any possible bugs, etc... are addressed. Sooo, I'm holding off until sometime in early/mid October hoping for this miracle of an Apple announcement.

So everyone, am I just dreaming or could there be a chance?

 

[JimmyDreams]

Buy what you want now, worry about Leopard later.

Why waste time NOT having/using your new computer just because you're waiting for people to debug the new OS? Unless some application you're planning on using darn near REQUIRES Leopard, I wouldn't bother with waiting.

The upgrade isn't all that expensive, and at this point, who knows WHEN it'll be released.


JimmyD

 

[RafMac]

When I spoke at apple online store a couple weeks ago, they told me Leopard would cost me 'Half Price' if I were to buy the new iMac then. Since my new iMac hasnt' shipped yet as it is getting close to release date. It will be billed upon pickup from my reseller. Usually the free upgrade falls on purchases made 30 days before actual released date and 30 days after released date. It's that 60-day window you want to be in. All you pay for is shipping for the DVD from apple. But apple's plan may change. I don't know why they are so tight lipped so close to October release date as they have postponed spring release already. Something is not right??? Another delay???

 

[AlexisV]

Why waste time NOT having/using your new computer just because you're waiting for people to debug the new OS? Unless some application you're planning on using darn near REQUIRES Leopard, I wouldn't bother with waiting.

The upgrade isn't all that expensive, and at this point, who knows WHEN it'll be released

THere shouldn't be any major bugs. And definitely nothing to stop you buying Leopard. Heck, even Vista was actually very stable when it came out in January.

Personally, I'd wait until October now.

 

[rallycars]

I don't think apple cares if anything hurts sales of the iMac. They can't even send me mine (ordered trough a reseller) after 5 weeks.

 

[mrgreen4242]

THere shouldn't be any major bugs. And definitely nothing to stop you buying Leopard. Heck, even Vista was actually very stable when it came out in January.

Personally, I'd wait until October now.

There's usually some issues with early OSX releases... at least there was with 10.3.0 and 10.4.0. I expect to have some problems in 10.5.0, but usually they get a couple updates out pretty quick and it's all good. Also, what does Vista's stability have to do with OSX? There's just no comparison to be made or parallels to draw with these two. Completely different companies making them, different target hardware, different target audience, different internal priorities, different features, etc etc. It just makes no sense to assert that Vista was fairly stable so Leopard will be too.

I don't think apple cares if anything hurts sales of the iMac. They can't even send me mine (ordered trough a reseller) after 5 weeks.

Just curious, but why do people order from Apple resellers? I've never seen anyone price their machines significantly less than Apple directly, you'll usually get your machine faster, support is easier to deal with, etc. I'm not trying to put you down or anything like that, just curious what incentive you had to order from a reseller rather than Apple direct?

When I spoke at apple online store a couple weeks ago, they told me Leopard would cost me 'Half Price' if I were to buy the new iMac then. Since my new iMac hasnt' shipped yet as it is getting close to release date. It will be billed upon pickup from my reseller. Usually the free upgrade falls on purchases made 30 days before actual released date and 30 days after released date. It's that 60-day window you want to be in. All you pay for is shipping for the DVD from apple. But apple's plan may change. I don't know why they are so tight lipped so close to October release date as they have postponed spring release already. Something is not right??? Another delay???

I've never seen or heard of Apple doing a half price upgrade. Sounds like sales monkey bunk to me. They've done free or ~$10 for discs/shipping upgrades for people who bought systems after an updated software product has a release date announced, but never half price.

 

[HLdan]

T

Just curious, but why do people order from Apple resellers? I've never seen anyone price their machines significantly less than Apple directly, you'll usually get your machine faster, support is easier to deal with, etc. I'm not trying to put you down or anything like that, just curious what incentive you had to order from a reseller rather than Apple direct?



I've never seen or heard of Apple doing a half price upgrade. Sounds like sales monkey bunk to me. They've done free or ~$10 for discs/shipping upgrades for people who bought systems after an updated software product has a release date announced, but never half price.

People buy from resellers because resellers generally offer free ram upgrades and some don't charge tax and possibly a free case with a laptop. I ordered my iMac from Mac mall and luckily for me my credit wasn't approved (don't mind spilling my business) so I decided to just order through Apple's online store on my credit card. My iMac was delivered a day earlier from Fed Ex and an hour earlier than posted. Very pleased with the service. It's best to order through Apple.

I have seen so many people on this forum complain about delays in shipping from the resellers and yet they seem to want to protect the resellers name. They only use the word "reseller" and not tell whom they ordered from. Don't know why?

The other poster may have been talking about a student discount which in fact does buy a new OS at nearly half price from Apple.

 

[peeaanuut]

I dont get the business about refunds for recent purchases. if you were not willing to spend the money for what you got, you shouldnt have payed that much for it. Obviously if you pay for a mac right now you are willing to pay the cost for what you are getting. I just got my Mini and I wouldnt expect a discount for having to buy the next os. Just as if I had an iPhone I wouldnt have expected a refund when the price drop was announced. I paid what I thought was fair or I wouldnt have payed it.

 

[HLdan]

I dont get the business about refunds for recent purchases. if you were not willing to spend the money for what you got, you shouldnt have payed that much for it. Obviously if you pay for a mac right now you are willing to pay the cost for what you are getting. I just got my Mini and I wouldnt expect a discount for having to buy the next os. Just as if I had an iPhone I wouldnt have expected a refund when the price drop was announced. I paid what I thought was fair or I wouldnt have payed it.

Agreed.

 

[Sophistra]

I dont get the business about refunds for recent purchases. if you were not willing to spend the money for what you got, you shouldnt have payed that much for it. Obviously if you pay for a mac right now you are willing to pay the cost for what you are getting. I just got my Mini and I wouldnt expect a discount for having to buy the next os. Just as if I had an iPhone I wouldnt have expected a refund when the price drop was announced. I paid what I thought was fair or I wouldnt have payed it.

Yea, your right about this, but for some people who dont have that much money and then buy this expensive machine... to then find out its cheeper 31 days later... they get pissed. I was for a few products that have done that. I'm a student so money for us is very tight... I'm just hoping that when Leopard comes out I can get the student discount.

Now, let me ask you, did you accept your refund for the iphone you bought 3 months ago?

 

[HLdan]

Yea, your right about this, but for some people who dont have that much money and then buy this expensive machine... to then find out its cheeper 31 days later... they get pissed. I was for a few products that have done that. I'm a student so money for us is very tight... I'm just hoping that when Leopard comes out I can get the student discount.

Now, let me ask you, did you accept your refund for the iphone you bought 3 months ago?

Excuse my french but that BS. If you can afford a new computer then you can afford to pay for the upgrade on the latest OS version. You don't need it anyway, Tiger is just fine, the Leopard upgrade is not required at this time. It's a want, not a need.
The same with the iPhone, if your budget is tight then a $600 phone shouldn't be bought.

The student thing, give it a rest. I support a large family on one income and if my budget is tight I won't buy something I can't afford. Students aren't the only people on a budget.
If you don't have that much money what are you doing buying an expensive machine?

 

[will0407]

The student thing, give it a rest. I support a large family on one income and if my budget is tight I won't buy something I can't afford. Students aren't the only people on a budget.
If you don't have that much money what are you doing buying an expensive machine?

I'm a student, and I 100% agree with you. It really pi**ed me off when people are moaning that they have none of their loan left, or they've got hardly any money in their account, when the majority of it is spent on alcohol. If you can't afford to buy something, whether it be a new computer, or just a few drinks, you shouldn't buy it.

Also, as students, we tend to get discount off a lot of things, so you should be grateful for that, rather than saying that money is an issue.

 

[mrgreen4242]

People buy from resellers because resellers generally offer free ram upgrades and some don't charge tax and possibly a free case with a laptop. I ordered my iMac from Mac mall and luckily for me my credit wasn't approved (don't mind spilling my business) so I decided to just order through Apple's online store on my credit card. My iMac was delivered a day earlier from Fed Ex and an hour earlier than posted. Very pleased with the service. It's best to order through Apple.

I have seen so many people on this forum complain about delays in shipping from the resellers and yet they seem to want to protect the resellers name. They only use the word "reseller" and not tell whom they ordered from. Don't know why?

The other poster may have been talking about a student discount which in fact does buy a new OS at nearly half price from Apple.

Seems like a lot of hassle to go through for a couple cheap freebies (1gb RAM is $40...) but to each their own, I suppose.

Didn't see the OP mention being a student, but I suppose that we do get almost half off of OS upgrades ($70 vs $130). However, that price is available irregardless of when you buy a computer, and it was clearly implied that buying a computer now would net him that half off discount, so I hold with my sales monkey bunk opinion.

Also, it's typically not a 30 day window. For 10.3 and 10.4 they gave an update for free/shipping costs to people who bought their machine between the announcement of a release date and that release date. So, for example, if they announce Leopard on September 25th and release it on October 16th, anyone buying a Mac from Sept 25th through Oct 15th will get the update free/for shipping costs. Often they have had some leeway on this if you call and ask, but it's one of those "at the discretion of the rep" things, not an official program. I JUST bought an iMac (ordered yesterday) and I figure they'll announce an October release date for Leopard sometime in the next couple weeks, so I plan to call both when they announce the date and the up to date program details and TRY to get a cheap upgrade, and also again around the actual release date and try again (if I failed the first time)... I'm HOPING I can get in, but I'm not counting on it.

 

[peeaanuut]

I would like to add one qualifier to my statement.

If you were told one thing when that person knew for certain that the opposite was true, than you have a right to be upset.

So if you called apple and they told you no way would it be discounted tomorrow but it turns out it was and that person knew (that is the key, they had to know) that it would be than you can be upset.

But other than that, hey, take the hit and call it a day.

That same theory goes for e-bayers, people get upset about not bidding enough on e-bay or that they would have payed more for something had they had more time. Well if you would have payed more, put that in in the first place and e-bay will but up to that amount for you. that way you get it for at most the price you would have payed and if you didnt win, than you were not willing to pay any more.

 

[RichardI]

You Apple people are funny. When Leopard comes out, I will buy it - full price, half price, whatever. Imagine all the poor schmucks who bought a copy of Vista Ultimate or whatever version, at $400 .
That's something to complain about.
Sally up to the bar boys .

Rich

 

[mrgreen4242]

You Apple people are funny. When Leopard comes out, I will buy it - full price, half price, whatever. Imagine all the poor schmucks who bought a copy of Vista Ultimate or whatever version, at $400 .
That's something to complain about.
Sally up to the bar boys .

Rich

Vista's pricing is indeed INSANE. On the other hand, the Vista/Windows guys make a good point about comparing the cost of XP (2002) and Vista (2007) to all the OSX updates in the same period. You might have spent about $600 on Windows from '02 to '07, but OSX users went through 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and now 10.5 in the same set of years. At $129 each, that's $516, so not a whole lot better.

Still, shelling out $400 at once feels an awful lot worse than $129 every couple years.

 

[peeaanuut]

the price tag was part of the reason I never switched to Vista. I just couldnt find that much of an advantage over XP to justify that kind of price.

 

[rainydays]

No sane person pays $400 for Vista. You'll either buy the upgrade ($240) or the OEM ($179).

But then again, no sane person buys Vista either way.

 

[RRK]

On the other hand, the Vista/Windows guys make a good point about comparing the cost of XP (2002) and Vista (2007) to all the OSX updates in the same period. You might have spent about $600 on Windows from '02 to '07, but OSX users went through 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and now 10.5 in the same set of years. At $129 each, that's $516, so not a whole lot better.

Still, shelling out $400 at once feels an awful lot worse than $129 every couple years.

You think that is a good point? Lets say you could choose between an Adobe Photoshop that updates every year cheaply or one that doesn't get an update for 3 years and cost 3 times as much as what would be the newest version in the other scenario. The second option makes you pay a huge penalty if you didn't own version 1 from the day it was released, not to mention it is basically 3 years behind on the day before you purchase the new version.

 

[mrgreen4242]

You think that is a good point? Lets say you could choose between an Adobe Photoshop that updates every year cheaply or one that doesn't get an update for 4 years and cost 3 times as much as what would be the newest version in the other scenario. The second option makes you pay a huge penalty if you didn't own version 1 from the day it was released, not to mention it is basically 4 years behind on the day before you purchase the new version.

I didn't say it was a good system, I said it was a valid point when people point out the expense of Vista compared to OS X. There's no doubt in my, or probably anyone here's, mind that OSX is superior to Windows. On a cost basis, though, they're about the same. I happen to like getting incremental improvements with OSX for a portion of the overall/comparative price, but on the other hand, as a sys admin of a bunch of Windows machines, having a single version of Windows stay current (not counting updates and service packs) is convenient.

 

[netdog]

THere shouldn't be any major bugs. And definitely nothing to stop you buying Leopard. Heck, even Vista was actually very stable when it came out in January.

Personally, I'd wait until October now.

Actually, Vista wouldn't work with iTunes when it shipped, and that was no small thing to MANY users.