Wolfram Alpha offers refunds on its Iphone app

COMPUTATION ENGINE Wolfram Alpha has announced a massive price cut for its Iphone app and taken the surprise move of offering previous purchasers a rebate.

Wolfram Alpha hit the headlines last year when it launched - bugs and all - the first "computational knowledge engine", which essentially presented complex mathematical problems in and easy to digest manner, including formulae and graphs. The Brit behind it was also the man behind second most popular mathematical modelling tool, Mathematica.

The clever online mathematical tool lay dormant for a while until it launched a $50 Iphone application to use the engine. Obviously at that price point you'd have to be a pretty hardcore researcher or just a fanboi to make a purchase, and sure enough not enough did. The price first fell to $20 then dropped all the way down to a more palatable $2.

Price decreases aren't exactly uncommon in the world of technology, but what's rare is the seller offering refunds on purchases at previously inflated prices. Wolfram Alpha is doing just that until May 3, irrespective of what price point the application was purchased at. One assumes that the considerable cut Apple took from sales will be taken on the chin by the developer.

For those who invested in the application, this could be a rare chance to claw back some of the ridiculous outlay on an Iphone application that is available for free on the web. µ