MacUpdate has launched its Spring Bundle offer, giving buyers the regular retail versions of 11 top-rated Mac titles worth $377.79 at normal prices for a bundle price of $50. The bundle includes three tools normally priced higher than the entire bundle: VMWare Fusion 4 ($50) for virtualizing a Windows environment, Mac utility Drive Genius 3 ($100), and PDF markup tool PDFpen 5 ($60).
Mac game maker Aspyr has selected four titles from its catalog for a special month-end sale. From now through the end of January, Prey, Tomb Raider II, Duke Nukem Forever and Neverwinter Nights 2 for Mac will be on sale for $5, up to 75 percent off their normal price. The sale prices are already available for the Mac App Store versions, which require Intel Macs running OS X 10.6.6 or higher. Graphics requirements vary by game.
Canadian software maker Zevrix Solutions, which offers several Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Microsoft Office and print or PDF workflow utilities, is extended its holiday half-off sale until January 5th, allowing users to take advantage of a 50 percent reduction in the prices of all its products, including product bundles. The offer is good only through the Zevrix online store, and include titles like LinkOptimizer, InPreflight, BatchOutput Office and Deliver.
Two more Mac-centric companies have announced post-holiday deals, including a games bundle at 75 percent off the retail price and a half-off sale for an entire store. MacGameStore is offering its Best Mac Games Bundle Ever featuring 10 games for $20 through January 7th, while Mariner Software is taking 50 percent off all purchases in its store until the end of 2011. The Mariner offer includes reductions on its own bundles and standalone software for Mac and Windows.
Clothing and accessories discounter TJ Maxx may be planning a repeat of a publicity stunt from last year, where it sold iPads at a $100 discount in extremely limited quantities as a "door buster" type promotion. A tipster to The Verge says the chain will put the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 on sale tomorrow (December 3rd) for $399, $100 off. The report also said that stores would be limited to 15 units on hand, and that perhaps not all stores would be getting stock.
FiLMiC Pro, a video production tool for iOS devices, is being offered as a free download through the Thanksgiving weekend. The software, which is generally offered as a $3 purchase, allows users to choose between different video resolutions and frame rates. Controls for independently changing the focus and exposure locks are also included, along with framing tools, single/double reticule modes, audio metering options, and more.
RIM is now shipping its BlackBerry PlayBook at sale prices directly from its webstore. Users can buy up to three of the tablets in one transaction with the sale ending on December 3. Each model is being discounted by a massive $300 bringing the 16GB Wi-Fi only model down to just $199.
In yet another sign that updates to several Mac and portable Mac machines is on the way, Best Buy and other merchants have put the current MacBook Air models on sale, offering modest discounts on the 11.6- and 13.3-inch models. Best Buy, MacConnection and MacMall have also put the white MacBook model on sale, and cut prices on the MacBook Pros, CNet reports.
[Updated with a new bundle offer] Four unrelated sales add up to great savings for Mac users in the last days of 2010. MacBundlePro is offering their NanoBundle2, a total of seven useful apps through December 30th; Mariner Software has discounted all of their software and combo-packs by 50 percent, with prices on their award-winning software for Mac and Windows now starting as low as $10 until the end of the year; Bundles for Mac offers a package of six apps aimed specifically at web developers; and a collective of six popular indie developers have thrown together a bundle deal that only lasts until the start of the new year.
MacUpdate Promo has unveiled its Winter 2010 Bundle, consisting of 10 Mac applications (plus two "bonus" apps) worth a combined $534 for $50. Buyers of the bundle can gift apps to others that they already have, but the individual applications are the same as the versions bought new at regular price. The sale began at midnight EST December 8th and runs for 15 days.
Mike Yenco, the developer of Magic Dice, has updated the game to v1.6 and made it freeware, announcing its retirement at the end of the year. His company's other software, including Finance v6.0.2, Agenda v4.0.9, Archive v6.0.3 and iKeeper v3.0.2, are now on sale for the holidays at $10 off their normal price. Meanwhile, German game developer Jalada GmbH have released their latest game for Mac, Jalada Skip Over ($5), a hexagonal-tile puzzle adventure with a retro feel.
Earlier this month, a report had Samsung interested in buying portable flash memory maker SanDisk, and today’s rumors have another suitor considering making a bid for the company. A newswire reports Toshiba is the latest interested party, and is only considering a bid in order to prevent competitor Samsung from taking over SanDisk, thus creating a near monopoly as the sole supplier of NAND flash memory devices, components and subsystems.
Low-cost Olevia LCD TV maker Syntax-Brillian yesterday filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and announced it will sell off its Vivitar digital camera business, reports say. The voluntary decision to enter bankruptcy protection also includes a proposed sale of the company's assets to Olevia International Group, which was newly created and co-owned by TCV Group, a supplier for Syntax. The sale would include Olevia International Group taking on $60 million of Syntax-Brillian's secured debt.
IDC is projecting worldwide PC shipment growth of 15.2 percent in 2008, reaching 310 million units. The analysis firm predicts that growth will remain in the double-digits through 2010, followed by high single-digit growth through 2012, boosting annual shipments to over 472 million in 2012. Meanwhile, the fall in average PC selling price will be offset by an ongoing transition to sale of notebooks, which generally cost more than desktops. IDC's report also says that the Asia/Pacific region excluding Japan (APeJ) surpassed the United States as the region with the largest PC market in total annual shipments at the end of 2007.
Equinux today released iSale 5.1, the latest revision of its online auction software for Mac OS X. iSale 5.1 allows users to integrate video clips into auctions from all leading video websites, according to Equinux, including Apple's .Mac service. The update also increases security by supporting the PayPal Security Key for 2-factor-authentication. The Template Editor in iSale 5.1 includes a new item for integrating video clips in all of the 222 templates that ship with the software. iSale 5.1 is available for $60, and requires Mac OS X 10.5.
HungrySeacow Software is holding a 25 percent-off sale to celebrate the one-year anniversary of its recipe management application, YummySoup! The software offers an intuitive new way to import recipes from any website with support for automatic Web imports for AllRecipes.com; Deliaonline.com; Epicurious.com; FoodAndWine.com; FoodNetwork.com; LightAndTasty.com; MarthaStewart.com; RachaelRayMag.com; VegetarianTimes.com; and Yum-O.org. YummySoup! 1.6.1 is priced at $15, and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Best Buy is planning to almost double the number of stores that sell Apple-branded goods, according to conversations held with company executives at the Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. UBS analysts say the brick-and-mortar retailer aims to expand its Mac sales to 500 stores in 2008, up from the current 270 outlets, according to AppleInsider.
In brief: A CompUSA in Lexington, Kentucky is discounting its entire stock of Apple merchandise, Zannel has optimized its web-based multimedia sharing site for the iPhone, and MacNN has posted reviews of a website creation app called Shutterbug, and the leather Cobra iPod CoverCase. CompUSA is offering discounts of 5-percent on Apple desktops, laptops, and iPods, 10-percent off of Apple Cinema Displays, 15-percent on Apple software, and a 20-percent discount on Apple accessories. While CompUSA is currently having a sale on its website, it is unclear if this is the same offer, or if this is being offered outside of Lexington.
MacSanta is back for 2007, after running a successful program for Christmas 2006, offering discounts on featured titles from many different software developers. The promotion is running from December 1st, through to the 24th, and will feature five developers' products at 20-percent off, updated daily at midnight (PST). Once the featured products are updated, MacSanta offers 10-percent off of formerly highlighted products through to December 31st. Rogue Amoeba, who both organizes and participates in MacSanta, says that some big name software companies will be included, as well as many lesser-known developers. MacSanta also has an RSS feed available.
