Apple has finally unveiled the final version of their new xCode development suite used for developing Mac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad applications. The release is free to developers who have paid their $99. As for the rest of us, $5 on the app store will get you a download.
Previously, releases of XCode have been made available even to non-paid developers, so it’s not exactly clear what Apple is trying to accomplish by charging their $5 premium to non-paid developers (although it could well be an accounting practice so they can understand how many people are downloading it outside of the developer program.)
At any rate, if you are a Macintosh application developer but don’t want to spend the $99 to get into the Mac Developer program (and don’t mind missing out on early OS builds), it may be well worth it to you to lay down your 5 clams. At least it’s considerable cheaper than other notable development platforms (Hint hint, Microsoft…)
Via 9to5Mac
