By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

New iPod Touch apps cost $20, released to considerable controversy

It will take time to see what the sales numbers are like, but as with last year’s decision by Apple to charge a nominal fee for the “802.11n Enabler” for Core 2 Macs that already had the supported hardware yet shipped with 802.11g-only firmware, we expect that a great many people will be tempted to pirate this package rather than pay for it.

As part of a strategy to mitigate that tendency, Apple has made the package an iTunes Store purchase and there is undoubtedly at least some degree of “digital rights management”-type protection to ensure that piracy is not a widespread problem.

Along with the five apps included in the software update — Mail, Google Maps, Weather, Notes and Stocks — (sound familiar?) — there are a number of system tweaks and improvements that come with the “January Upgrade” as well. But we think a lot of existing, and potential, iPod Touch owners are going to have a thing or two to say about the fact that virtually all of this is just cross-over from iPhone v1.1.3, a free update.

Is this an “iPod Touch tax”?! Is this a fair price for what consumers will be getting?! Sound off in our new moderated comments! (Don’t bother submitting trolling, flaming/flame-baiting, duplicate or unduly negative/off-topic content; our new Comments are moderated-only for a reason; we aspire to a much better signal-to-noise ratio than that seen on most other sites’ comment pages, and our advertisers expect nothing less. At least half of our “comments” will be coming from members of the Rumors staff, and the rest will be picked from the top 1% or so of submissions. Just because there aren’t any comments yet displayed, obviously doesn’t mean there haven’t been any submitted.)


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  • http://na Greg

    J-A-I-L-B-R-E-A-K! Please look into it touch owners. Mine is fine and has been running these and many other amazing programs for months. This is a worthless update, that if you were smart…would already be on your touch. 20 more bucks for a device I just shelled out 400 for? Oh yeah and its not a phone to boot? Get out of here Apple, I love you…but this is retarded. Just keep trying to keep the jailbreak community on the hush hush….as you sit back and watch what they come up with, only to take that information and sell it to uninformed consumers in other “Monthly Updates”.

  • Roland

    At first I recoiled at the paid upgrade path for these applications. However, that changed when I read that there are some differences between the iPhone and iPod software. For instance, the location services on the iPhone can use Google’s cellular triangulation information to give you your location, while the iPod has to use a service from Skyhook using wi-fi hotspots to generate this feature since it doesn’t have cellular service to support the Google implementation. Services like that cost money, folks. And at that point, a one time $20 fee is a bargain.

  • Ruscle

    Maybe this is a way for Apple to see how many people REALLY want this update… instead of just updating everyone’s for free and wondering if people will use these features. My BIG question is: Does this mean there are not more updates to the iPod Touch? It sure needs some tweaking still. (Like why does cover flow go into your library EVERY time you turn your iPod instead of reflecting the playlist you are viewing before you turn your iPod?) — Anybody know if that’s what this means? No more updates?

  • Dave

    In response to Peter Singer; The ability to add appointments to the calendar was part of the 1.1.2 firmware upgrade, which went out several months ago.

  • DaChief

    I support Apple in nearly all of their busness practices. I wasn’t home more than 30 minutes before running to my desktop to download ‘all’ the software updates (OS X, iPod, iTunes). There will be more updates and if you want ‘nice’ you have to pay ‘nice’. $19.99 isn’t a fortune – it’s a lunch at Appleby’s. Thank you Apple for adding the Apps. Please use my $20.00 for R&D to perfect 2010′s ‘One more Thing.’

  • Bwana

    It seems rather outrageous to expect me, who bought a touch last week, to pay this $20 when the person who buys a new one will not. With any advance warning I would have put off the purchase.

  • http://rocketagency.com John Lilly

    I begrudgingly walked over to the Apple Store in SF with my iPod Touch to buy the $20 software. It turns out, not only are they charging for it, you have to use a credit card to buy it.

    Despite cash registers and internet connections in the store, Apple would not accept CASH as a payment. It turns out, according to store manager Dillon Moffat, that Apple wants your credit card information in their iTunes Store System.

    I’m considering taking back my iPod Touch (a Christmas gift still under warranty) and exchanging it for a new one with the software already installed.

    What a stab in the back from a company I’ve stuck with for nearly 20 years. Hey Apple, some of us don’t live on debt. We save our money and despise the corporate banking scheme.

    In these days of global corporatism run amok, and the world financial markets being rocked by incompetence and greed, I was hoping Apple would stick with the “Think Different” concept. Instead, they appear to be money-grubbing whores in bed with the credit card companies.

    We just want the software – not a forced relationship with an immoral banking system.

  • http://www.heff.info Heff

    VT is correct. I spoke with the Apple reps at Macworld today. Current accounting laws force them to charge for the product. They can release bug fixes for free, but feature updates are treated as a “new” product. Another stupid Bush-era law with unintended consequences.

  • http://notrequired.com David

    Heff – SOX is in place to protect investors and the public trust, ensure that financials are being accounted for properly and that management is performing due diligence. It is needed to help prevent situations such that happened at Enron, Worldcom, etc. FWIW… it is a PIA for businesses as much as it is for anyone else and has created a substantial amount of overhead and operational cost.

  • Richard

    $20 would be a fair price for these features, if it were for ALL Touch owners. The part that is unfair is that new units will be shipped with these features for the same price I paid.

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