Earlier today [6 Jan 2009] during the MacWorld 2009 keynote address by Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, iLife '09 and iWork '09 was announced. As I'm sure there are dozens of tech and Mac/Apple sites out there which covered the event I'm not going to go over the details of the new features and changes.

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iLife '09 Hardware Up-to-Date Program

According to Apple's website, if you bought a new Mac on or after January 6, 2009, that does not include iLife ’09, you can upgrade to iLife ’09 for US$9.95 plus tax.

. . . So if you bought one of the new designed MacBook's or MacBook Pro's before January 6, today, then your out of luck.. the upgrade for you is US$79 for single user, US$99 for family.

Regardless, I would wait until the end of this month when iLife '09 is out before getting a new Mac, and save yourself $10.

iWork '09
The new iWork '09 is out now, and starting today, iWork '09 is US$50 when you buy it with a new Mac.

Also out in a free Public Beta is the new iWork.com service. Near the bottom of the the page, the fine print on Apple's website states, "The iWork.com Public Beta is not included with the purchase of iWork ’09. Account setup and activation are required. Fees may apply. Internet access and iWork ’09 are required. Terms of service apply."

The terms of service for the iWork.com Public Beta states that in order for you to sign-in and activate the Service, you must use your existing Apple Account (aka your Apple ID) or setup a new Apple Account if you do not already have one.

The Public Beta is provided right now free of charge and "as is." It is expected that this will be a paid service in the future, much like Apple's MobileMe.

The price to upgrade is the same for both iLife '09 and iWork '09, US$79 for single user, US$99 for family.

Upgrade price . . . bit of a misdirection since the Retail Price on the US Apple Store website is [at the moment I'm typing this up] . . . $79 for single, $99 for family . . .

Also announced is the Mac Box Set, shipping out by the end of this month.
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This is for those Mac users that still haven't upgraded to Leopard.

One of the requirements to run the new iLife '09 and iWork '09 is having Mac OS X Leopard on your machine, so this bundles Leopard, iLife '09 and iWork '09 in one package for US$169.