Apple on Thursday relaunched its Mac Developer Program and modelled it after the successful iPhone Developer Program the company has had in place for the past couple of years. “As our developer base continues to grow in leaps and bounds, we’re working hard to ensure we provide our developers with everything they need to create innovative applications for both the iPhone OS and Mac OS X,” an Apple spokeswoman told The Loop.

The developer program gives companies and individuals access to pre-release software, development videos, technical support and special developer forums. It’s through this program that developers work with Apple to iron out bugs and give feedback on software before it’s released to the public.

It’s not just the features of the Mac program that are modelled after the iPhone — the price is too. Under the old system, a membership for developers could cost several thousand dollars, but with the new program membership costs $99.

If you are an existing Apple Developer Connection member, you will maintain all of your benefits until your membership expires. Once that happens, you just join the new program.

More information is available on Apple’s developer Web site.