Here's the major reason: the price of apps. AppCubby maker of apps like GasCubby, just put up an analysis of the app store that says the new price ceiling is $5. It used to be $10. But according to him and other developers, the $10 price point is no longer sustainable, seeing as many previously $10-priced apps are now $3-$5.

There probably are two major co-existing reasons for the drop. One, older apps get price drops to lure in cheapskates. People who wanted them already bought them, and people who are holdouts will only jump on when the price is lowered. Two, older apps just get dropped because older titles (see Best Buy) get price drops.

But back to the main point. If $5 is the new standard price ceiling, developers aren't going to be willing to devote time to their projects. It's as Craig Hockenberry of Twitterific argued: bigger projects need a bigger payoff, but if those developers price their apps too high, there won't be enough income to make those projects worthwhile.

There's no easy solution to this, which means that iPhone users shouldn't expect much more complicated games than what's already on there now. All the talk of the iPhone competing with the DS or the PSP in terms of quality may be moot if there's nobody there to spend the effort developing that level of games. [AppCubby]

Looking at full (non-upgrade) pricing of consumer Windows editions really tells the story: When you compare sticker prices, you can see that most editions hovered around the $200 mark, with a rare spike found in the $260 Vista Home Premium. When you adjust for inflation, that fairly regular pricing becomes a downward cascade—except for that Vista price hike.

The pro versions of Windows, starting with NT, tell the same story. $320 across the board, with a dip when XP Pro followed quickly on the heels of Windows 2000. But when you calculate for inflation, it's just a smooth downward curve.

[Windows 7 Pricing: The Full Story; prices sourced from the following multiple or official locations: Washington Post, Businessweek, Microsoft, Cnet, Wired, Microsoft, CBROnline, Microsoft, Microsoft; inflation calculations made with Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Calc - Special thanks to Don the Intern for doing a ton of research on this!]

After I read about Gazaro on Consumerist, I signed up (free) and looked up the Nikon D90 and Panasonic's 50" TH-50PZ80U, which you can see tracked below at both Amazon and NewEgg.

For the plasma, you'll notice that Amazon's pricing is better, but sadly, the historical data doesn't go back very far. It seems Amazon pricing only goes back to January 1, though NewEgg's goes back to last fall. As a new service, Gazaro will probably only get better as it accumulates more useful historical data. The prices do appear to include the low ones that are not always revealed on the page—Gazaro has up-to-date correct pricing on Amazon's merchandise despite the "click here to see price" obstacle.

As you see above, you view the pricing as a graph, with rollover data points that reveal prices on certain arbitrary dates. But look below—sticklers for raw data can view it all in a chart.

I know for a fact that I will hit up this site all the time when doing researching so-called good deals, because, like in the Amazon plasma-TV example above, even the "best" deals aren't as good some of the time as they are at other times.

This may not be the only comparative search engine that has price tracking over time—we recently covered the sweet Zoetrope concept by Adobe that did something similar, but much broader. If you know of other actual running price trackers, please share them in comments below. It is my wish that all comparative shopping engines did it, and if none of them do it yet, all the more reason to sign up for Gazaro. [Gazaro via Consumerist]

UPDATE: I'd also like to point out ZooLert as another option in this field—I am happy to see that this movement is gaining steam. It's great news for smart shoppers.

Adrian, our resident Palm disciple, found the Treo Pro a very capable phone, as far as Windows Mobile handsets go. And it was Palm's best-designed phone, until the little pebble of Pre-ness was dropped on us at CES.

Now it's a lot easier to find out if he was right with Sprint's CDMA Pro, as before now it had not been subsidized by any carrier. [Sprint Nextel]

Update: Annnnnd now it's gone. I guess Sprint hit "publish" too early. One would assume, though, that the information was correct, just early. Here's their statement:

Sprint inadvertently posted information on Sprint.com regarding an upcoming product, Palm Treo Pro, this morning. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Sprint looks forward to welcoming this exciting, new device into our portfolio as soon as it has been approved through our customary testing process. We will share details on the correct availability date as soon as the standard testing of both the device and its interaction with our network has concluded. Thank you for your interest in Sprint products.

This isn't the first time we have heard such rumors raging through the tubes, but the Financial Times is, more often than not, a super reliable source. Why do you guys care? Well, if this happens to be true—and we won't have to wait long to find out—surely the States will see some price cutting goodness shortly thereafter? [I4U]

CEO George Gonzalez says his service, which could be described as a combo of a virtual satellite-delivered Blockbuster store paired up with the personal preference penchant of a TiVo, says there are no deals lined up with studios for content just yet. However, he adds that Hollywood content providers are "aware and supportive" of the idea.

What we like: 1080p video across the board, and lossless DTS-HD audio. Yeah, if only all TV were this way. [XStreamHD.com]

The MiniOne will have a 533Mhz Samsung processor, 128MB of DDR SDRAM, TFT touchscreen, 720x480 resolution, 3-megapixel back camera, 0.3-megapixel front camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DMB TV Tuner, GPS, video output, AVI/MPEG4/WMV support, and a 4GB to 16GB size.

The best part? It's only going to be about $260 for the 4GB version and $450 for the 16GB version. Are you excited yet? We are. – Jason Chen

MiniOne, the telephone by Meizu [Akihabara News via Uber Phones]

We'll update this post when it is. In the meantime, read our review here.– Jason Chen

Product Page [Cingular via Slashphone]

Thanks tipster!

But for fans of mobile music on their phones, this now cheap Upstage coupled with Sprint's 99 cent tracks may mean an even more attractive alternative to iPod + iTunes. – Jason Chen

Sprint Nextel's Upstage Goes down to $100 [rcrnews]

On Amazon, pricing in full details of each version of the software is listed as follows: Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Web Premium will be $1599, Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Master Collection is $2499, Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Production Premium goes for $1199 and Adobe Creative Suite CS3 Design Premium will be $1599. Take a look at a table showing which bundle contains which applications, along with their gorgeous new boxes and Amazon's quoted ship dates, after the jump.

Of course, Adobe is trying to get you to buy all of its software together in huge boxes, but you'll still be able to pick up stand-alone versions of your favorites in CS3 trim such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro (to be available for Intel Mac), Illustrator, After Effects, and more.

Wandering around the Amazon leakage, you can see that most of these software bundles will be available April 20, but it looks like if you want the full boat Master Collection, or Premiere Pro, Soundbooth, or Encore, you'll have to wait until July 1.

Adobe says this is the largest software upgrade in its history, and the company even goes so far as to say it's the largest software rollout in the history of all software. Good gawd. Looking at the Master Collection, there are 21 software applications. We're just wondering what one person could actually use all 21 of those. – Charlie White

Amazon leaks Adobe CS3 pricing, availability dates, code split [Apple Insider]

Microsoft dropped the news today, officially. The price for the WiFi, 30-gig Zune player is $249.99, the same price as a 30-gig ipod, but with a sightly larger screen (3-inches vs 2.5-inches). We'll be able to hold 'em in our hands on November 14th.

Also, the music subscription service, called Zune Pass, will be available for $14.99. Single tracks will go for 79 microsoft points, the same currency used to buy Xbox games, which turns out to be about a buck.–Brian Lam
Press Release [Microsoft]
All our Zune posts [Giz]

Wii Calculator [N-Sider, via Kotaku]

As a result, the Zune might be dropping some pre-loaded content that nobody really cared much for anyway. – Jason Chen

Full Version
•Vista Ultimate: $399
•Vista Business: $299
•Vista Home Premium: $239
•Vista Home Basic: $199

Upgrade
•Vista Ultimate: $259
•Vista Business: $199
•Vista Home Premium: $159
•Vista Home Basic: $99

A little bit off from the Canadian prices we had to convert from in the leaked prices. But the good news is all the US prices are cheaper. – Jason Chen

Press Release [Microsoft]