Windows 7 Pricing : 4 Things Apple Can Teach Microsoft

Microsoft has just announced the pricing grid for its flagship operating system Windows 7 and it came without any major surprises although altogether we did see a slight reduction in the pricing.

However, Microsoft could learn a lot from the only other major software developer which sells shrink wrapped operating system, Apple, which is going to launch its next generation Mac OS X Snow Leopard in September.

And while we set aside philosophical questions and debates, we managed to find a few things that Apple could share with Microsoft when it comes to OS pricing.

(1) Price it low
The cheapest Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OS will cost $199.99, rising to $319.99 when ordering the Windows 7 Ultimate version. You can expect to pay only $129 for the latest Mac OS X (currently v10.5.6 Leopard). True, you could possibly get OEM versions of Windows 7 but Microsoft does not explicitly sell those and you won't find them in high street stores.

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(2) Respect the Exchange rate
Apple is also very careful when it comes to pricing in the UK and in the US, the price of the OS X Leopard reflects the current exchange rate at $1.55 per pound compared to $1.66 for Windows 7 Home Premium.