MapPoint 2009 was scheduled to ship July 21st, although a recent posting by a Microsoft blogger says the date will actually be September 1st.

The product is on the volume price lists.

MapPoint 2009 includes a host of new features and a whole new interface. It is a ribbon-ish or Fluent interface and gives the product a more modern look (some have said the old interface was from Windows 95, hehe).

You can now order MapPoint 2009 from MP2Kmag/MapForums for $269 which includes free shipping within the United States and a six month Premium membership on MapForums.com - the MapPoint and Virtual Earth discussion site.

Chandu Thota, formerly a Microsoft employee working with the Virtual Earth group, wrote a book Programming MapPoint in .NET.

Although the Virtual Earth section of the book is a bit dated, both the MapPoint Web Service and the MapPoint CD product sections (which together are about 9/10’s of the book) are still very relevant.

The book can be purchased new from the MapForums store at Map Store.

The forums are a key resource for learning about MapPoint and other Microsoft Geography products.