Mac App Store - Facetime updates and XCode status

The versions of FaceTime and XCode in the App Store now are 1.02 and 4.01 respectively. You may just need to buy them and replace your current versions instead of "updating". With the costs of the full versions so low, free updates may not be offered.

What I think doesn't matter. Either it's a free update or it costs $1.00 — whether or not we think it should. Whichever is true, it will be true regardless of our opinions. If FaceTime costs $1.00 and it isn't worth that much to you, don't buy it. The dollar you don't spend won't make much of a dent in Apple.

And it came with the then-current version of Facetime. If you want a newer version, apparently that costs $1.

Around 1993, I paid $1200 for a new scanner. It was a 300ppi scanner with very limited dynamic range, but it was the state of the art at that time, and it cost a lot. The high price was made more palatable by the fact that it came with the full version of Photoshop, then at version 2.5 and selling separately for about $650. Several years later, I upgraded Photoshop from v.2.5 to v.5 for about $180, and a few years later I upgraded to v. 9 (CS2) for another $200, and later I upgraded again to v. 11 (CS4) for another $180. I may have thought my original purchase of Photoshop 2.5 (for what was likely a sizable fraction of my $1200) should entitle me to free upgrades of Photoshop forever, but Adobe hasn't agreed with me yet, so I pay for the upgrades I need, and I'm pleased whenever a minor update is released for free.

Would you be a lot happier if Facetime had cost $5 or $20 and then updates were free?

It makes no difference to me or to Apple what you do. Suit yourself.

There was a problem with the App Store and the XCode 4.0.1 update which has now been fixed by Apple, if you have paid you should now be able to click 'Buy' and get a window saying you've already bought and do you want to download and install the update.

Facetime's recent update is also free for those who paid the original (small) sum to purchase version 1.0 and should show a similar behaviour in the App Store, if not post in the Forum dedicated to it rather than here.

I hear ya 🙂

FWIW the version of FaceTime that was originally supplies was a beta copy and just put out there for general testing, once they got to 1.0 I paid $1.99 (Australian price) for it and since then have got the update free, which I expect as long as we're with version 1.x, once we get to 2.x they may want another 99¢ I guess.

XCode is $4.99 which is a lot cheaper than paying $99 for the developer programme to get it and, for that price, it's quite a meaty application and well worth it IMHO.

Yeah the AppStore software has some bugs in it for sure.

FYI, I purchased Facetime on my 2010 Macbook, then got the 2011 Macbook. The AppStore shows that I have purchased Facetime, but that it is not installed. I think the preinstalled MBP Facetime HD is different than the one in the AppStore.