Are utility software prices still realistic? I know a lot of effort goes into software development and people do want to earn a living or at least a useful second source of income from the process.

But with apps for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch typically selling for a few dollars, anything over ten bucks is beginning to look expensive unless it delivers serious value.

This train of thought was triggered by the release of Realmac Software's Courier. This program simplifies the upload of files to Amazon S3, Ember, Facebook, Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube, and FTP and SFTP servers. It looks good, it seems to keep things simple, and it is extensible.

But would you pay $US19.95/$A23.95 for it? I wouldn't, but then I'm a self-confessed cheapskate when it comes to software. On the other hand, I released a couple of projects as donationware rather than shareware because I didn't want to be the cause of someone else's guilty conscience.

And over at TheMacBundles, you can currently buy FileJuicer (extract text, images, etc from various filetypes), HoudahGeo (geotag photos then share through Google Earth, Flickr or locr), PlayNice (Mac/Windows sync for Address Book, iCal and Outlook), PrintMagic (print any selection of material in virtually any program), Slink (remote access to shared services on your home network) - or various other combinations of programs - for $US29.75/$A34.60.

So I reckon the days of double-digit utility prices are nearing their end. Sure, people will always be prepared to pay for utilities that deliver serious value (eg, recovering a corrupted disk or deleted or damaged files), but I don't hear from many people that are happy to spend real money to save just a couple of minutes here and there.

PS: Have you run Software Update recently? Updates for Safari (including security patches) and iWeb were released the other day.