Apple Thoughts: Apple Details iLife '09 Up To Date Program

"As usual, Apple has rolled out a low-cost upgrade ("up-to-date" in Apple parlance) program for iLife ‘09. It works like this: if you purchased a Mac (even a refurbished one) on or after 06 January 2009 that doesn't come with iLife ‘09 you can upgrade to iLife ‘09 for $9.95 plus tax. The reason is that all Macs sold after last Tuesday's Macworld Expo keynote address are sold as "shipping with iLife ‘09." To be able to claim that Apple needs to make iLife ‘09 available inexpensively to every Mac sold on or after that date."

When I bought my first iBook back in 2004, I took part in this program also. It's not a bad deal, really. A $10 upgrade path to the latest version of iLife is definitely an enticer for people who are on the fence based on the included bundle potentially being outdated.