Chiding Microsoft for talking a good ball game regarding Internet services while Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) actually takes action, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced at the MacWorld Expo in New York that Apple would convert its free iTools suite into subscription-based .Mac Web services. Noting that nothing is free anymore, Jobs pointed out that Apple’s move into Internet services will cost users US$100 per year for 15 MB of IMAP/POP mail storage and 100 MB of Internet-based storage. The storage will be built into the Mac's OS X Finder and located on Apple’s iDisk Internet servers. In addition, subscribers will have access to a Web site creation tool, antiviral software and back-up software. But Jobs' case for "Internet services for the rest of us" glossed over the high prices Apple is demanding for its newest innovations, including .Mac and the soon-to-be-released Jaguar OS X version 10.2. Jaguar will cost $129, or "less than a dollar for each feature," as Jobs put it.
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