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Apple iPhone

Apple iPod touch
Apple plays nice with iPhone users, gives iPod touch users the cold shoulder

For months following the release of Apple's revolutionary iPhone, the news came fast and furiously. In recent times, however, news on the iPhone has been pretty spotty at best (likely to the jubilation of many).

Steve Jobs put an end to the lull in iPhone news today with the introduction of the new 1.1.3 software update. The new update, which is available for free for all iPhone users, adds an upgraded Maps application (which can now triangulate your position using Wi-Fi or cell towers), the ability to text message multiple people at once, Web Clips support, the ability to customize the home screen, and lyrics support within iTunes.

"iPhone doesn’t stand still -- we’re making it better and better all the time," said Jobs, Apple’s fearless leader. "We’ve delighted millions of users with this revolutionary and magical product and it’s great to share these improvements with them."

iPod touch owners will be glad to know that the 1.1.3 software update is also available for them as well. Another big plus is the addition of Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes applications from the iPhone.

Users may not be glad, however, when they learn that Apple is charging $19.95 in order to download the application update (separate from the 1.1.3 firmware update). Some contend that these five features should have never been stripped from the iPod touch in the first place, but Apple is now adding in the functionality -- albeit at a price.

All currently shipping iPod touch music players will have the five new apps already installed with no bump in price.

"These amazing new mobile applications make iPod touch not only the best iPod, but the best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world," continued Jobs. "With its revolutionary touch interface and software, plus its stunning 3.5 inch screen, iPod touch is evolving into the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform of the 21st century."

The 1.1.3 update for the iPhone and iPod touch can be downloaded from within iTunes. iPod touch users wishing to receive the new apps, however, will have to get through a payment screen first before proceeding with the software update.

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Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By Bonrock on 1/15/2008 7:23:28 PM , Rating: 6
Seems like Steve Jobs saw how Microsoft gave all first-generation Zune owners a free upgrade with new features and decided to do something nice for Apple's customers. Then he remembered who he was and decided to charge his customers $20 instead.




RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By xsilver on 1/15/2008 9:04:42 PM , Rating: 5
maybe if enough people bitched about it you'll get a $2 giftcard for the itunes store.

or NOT


By Proteusza on 1/16/2008 5:08:13 AM , Rating: 5
The conditions of use for said $2 voucher would be that you have to spend $100 or more at an Apple store.

Thanks Apple, this is why I dont own any Apple products. Everyone complains about MS and loves Apple, but Apple is even more greedy than Microsoft is.


By Ryanman on 1/16/2008 3:14:47 PM , Rating: 2
The best part is I bet none of them even care. The anti-mac guys are always blown away by their buisness model, and these people that buy their hardware just keep swallowing it at astonishing rates.
It's evolution baby.


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By mondo1234 on 1/15/08, Rating: -1
RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By Bioniccrackmonk on 1/16/2008 9:16:08 AM , Rating: 2
Awww, I know, lets cry some more about Live services being down sporadically over the christmas holidays because crying back then just wasn't enough. Get over yourself. I do know for a fact that it wasn't down the entire time because I played mine during the christmas holidays when it worked, and when it didn't, GASP, I found something else to do.


By T4RTER S4UCE on 1/16/2008 10:06:03 AM , Rating: 1
Yeah, live was down for almost every game I own excluding TF2... Interesting the most lag inflicted game is the best running.


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By Polynikes on 1/16/2008 12:24:46 PM , Rating: 2
I guess you missed the news, MS DID apologize, and even promised a free game. Also, not all Live subscribers are paying, only the Gold ones are.


By mondo1234 on 1/17/2008 11:04:59 AM , Rating: 2
Oh, we're sorry we screwed you.
I guess you missed the class action lawsuit.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080107-clas...

So not all is well...


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By helios220 on 1/15/2008 9:57:18 PM , Rating: 2
I don't really own all too many Apple products, but I have owned a few over the years and I personally don't remember enough events that would lead me to believe Jobs has a long history of charging people for patches. Then again I don't own enough Apple stuff to really know I guess.

That being said, that sounds awfully lame considering the iPod touch is not a cheap product in it's own right. If I owned a Touch I think I'd be much more inclined to say eff that and turn to the homebrew community / wait for the SDK if it ever makes it out.


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By MrDiSante on 1/15/08, Rating: 0
By WileCoyote on 1/16/2008 3:07:16 AM , Rating: 2
ok, neither one of those are patches. those are upgrades. patch = fix something. upgrade = add features. basic stuff here folks.


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By psychobriggsy on 1/16/2008 7:12:40 AM , Rating: 2
Leopard came out 30 months after Tiger. "Just under once every year" ... yeah, really, what solar system are you from?

This $20 fee is clearly for additional functionality to what the iPod Touch is sold as, and besides being an avenue for revenue for Apple, would be required by S.O. Like the 802.11n patch you mentioned. Not that I think that they would have given the applications away otherwise.


RE: Kinda like Microsoft, but not quite...
By ShiverSlick on 1/16/2008 9:16:03 AM , Rating: 3
$20 since it's additional functionality than what the iTouch was sold as??? The article says that all new ones will come with the apps already installed. If I had purchased an iTouch recently, I'd be quite hacked off that the new ones, that are identical to the one I bought, don't have to pay while I do. Guess it's a good thing that I went with a Zune and got my updates and added functions for free when they came out with a new model.


By Oregonian2 on 1/16/2008 1:55:40 PM , Rating: 2
That is standard early adopter risk. Cant' see that as a problem especially as the upgrades are made available without having to buy a new iTouch.

Compare with the Archos 605 wifi (one I've been considering as an alternative to the touch as my "now gone" 60G iPod replacement). That unit's feature list, screen size and screen resolution blows away the iTouch by a mile (or many kilometers, it being a French company). Not even close. iTouch has a spiffier UI (Archos is a touch screen though) and is a LOT smaller/thinner/lighter and says Apple on it. But the Archos has the same sort of chicken-feed features. One needs to buy a handful of $20 feature keys to make it fully featured. Mind you, even without those it's more highly featured than the itouch -- but still. Maybe Apple is copying Archos to get those $20 feature bonus monies? Maybe to become more EU friendly? :-)


magical!?!?!
By JoshuaBuss on 1/15/2008 6:38:59 PM , Rating: 5
sometimes i really just want to punch jobs so hard his geeky glasses fly off

that is all :)




RE: magical!?!?!
By enlil242 on 1/15/2008 10:29:41 PM , Rating: 2
I'm glad I jailbroke mine. I'll be playing iBlackjack while you all SMS multiple friends! HAHAHAHAHA!


RE: magical!?!?!
By gramboh on 1/16/2008 12:58:17 PM , Rating: 2
I don't get it, could the iPhone not send the same SMS to multiple receipients before? Free entry level phones from 2003 have this capability.


RE: magical!?!?!
By Snuffalufagus on 1/16/2008 1:39:45 PM , Rating: 2
That's was my first question too. Seems like pretty basic functionality that you'd assume was there without asking about it prior to a $400+ purchase.


RE: magical!?!?!
By dcalfine on 1/17/2008 12:36:15 AM , Rating: 2
Yeah, he does wear geeky glasses.
The hell is the matter with you.

As for the SMS issue, it wasn't software so much as firmware.
AT&T's infrastructure wasn't really ready for the data demands (nor, for that matter, Visual Voicemail) that the iPhone brought along. As for those entry-level 2003 phones, well, they didn't have visual voicemail, did they?


Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By psychobriggsy on 1/15/2008 7:01:24 PM , Rating: 2
I guess this is down to the accounting rules Sarbanes-Oxley thing for the iPod Touch...

Still, $20 for a Mail application, three crap widgets and a Maps application that provides a marginal improvement over the web variant does seem a bit harsh. I guess the Notes will come in useful for shopping lists.

Do new iPod Touches come with these apps, or are they forever an additional functionality package?

If I was a Touch owner, I'd wait until the SDK was released to see if I need to pay to enable third party applications to be added.




RE: Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 1/15/2008 7:03:32 PM , Rating: 2
New touches being sold from today forward have the new apps bundled in.


RE: Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By JoshuaBuss on 1/15/2008 7:13:59 PM , Rating: 2
do you get a $20 check in the mail if you downgrade? lol


By WileCoyote on 1/16/2008 2:57:12 AM , Rating: 1
do you get a $100+ check in the mail if you downgrade Vista to XP? lolnot


RE: Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By kelmon on 1/16/2008 3:07:30 AM , Rating: 2
While I am very disappointed in Apple for charging for this update I will note that it's much better than what you imply. For starters your iPod Touch effectively turns into a GPS since Google Maps is able to find where you currently are and that alone is worth $20. Widgets will be useful to some people, although the obsession with stock trackers is something that I've never understood. Mobile Mail can't be sniffed at either.

I do appreciate that Google Maps is NOT a replacement for a real GPS but if you live in a city then this will be damned useful regardless.


RE: Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By Proteusza on 1/16/2008 5:10:56 AM , Rating: 2
Perhaps, but why should someone with an iPhone, essentially the device except it lacks GSM communication, be able to get the same upgrade for free?

Useful it may be, but its just ripping the iPod users a new whole.


RE: Nice, now where's the SDK ...
By gramboh on 1/16/2008 11:11:24 AM , Rating: 2
What SOX rule causes companies to not be able to release products for free? I'm not flaming, but I've never heard of such a thing. SOX has more to do with controls over financial reporting than accounting rules.


Fantastic business move!
By ice456789 on 1/15/2008 6:39:15 PM , Rating: 5
Develop a full functioned device, disable some of the functions before it reaches the consumer, offer them a patch they can pay $20 for to re-enable the features, then act like you're doing the consumer a favor. Brilliant!!!




RE: Fantastic business move!
By michal1980 on 1/15/08, Rating: 0
RE: Fantastic business move!
By WileCoyote on 1/16/2008 2:51:48 AM , Rating: 1
wow, paranoid much?


RE: Fantastic business move!
By kelmon on 1/16/2008 3:13:54 AM , Rating: 2
It's not entirely clear whether Apple wanted to add these applications to the iPod Touch. I suspect that they didn't in order to further differentiate the Touch from the iPhone but were surprised by the backlash at the Touch's launch. Regardless, it is very disappointing that they have decided to charge for this additional software when new purchasers will get it for free. That's just not cool and I'm honestly disappointed with this increased trend from Apple to charge for updates that really should be free.

The only exception to this new policy is when they are adding features that give you the opportunity to buy more stuff from them, like the WiFi Music Store for the iPhone/Touch and Movie Rentals to the Apple TV.

Personally, I really don't care about Apple's products being more expensive but I do care when I am charged again for stuff that I should have gotten in the first place and that new buyers are effectively getting for free.


torrents ftw
By djkrypplephite on 1/15/2008 7:00:40 PM , Rating: 1
I'm waiting to find an update torrent for it. Plus it will be free eventually anyway. No way would I ever pay for features that they should have put in in the first place. I paid the same amount for my touch as people do for the iPhone, I damn well expect the same software updates and applications (obviously that may be used outside of a cell phone).




RE: torrents ftw
By glitchc on 1/15/2008 10:03:21 PM , Rating: 2
You mean it's behaviour like this that drives people to piracy? Heaven forbid!


RE: torrents ftw
By WileCoyote on 1/16/2008 3:01:04 AM , Rating: 1
Wow, you can't afford the extra $20 so you're going to illegaly download a pirated copy? Weird. Just weird. What's the demographics of these posters? Below the poverty line?


RE: torrents ftw
By spluurfg on 1/16/2008 7:41:23 AM , Rating: 2
Maybe they just don't feel like getting ripped off?


RE: torrents ftw
By PandaBear on 1/16/2008 8:33:58 PM , Rating: 2
You bet, just to make a statement. If I am rich I might donate $20 to charity to make it even.


Wait ... How do these all work?
By deeznuts on 1/16/2008 12:05:35 AM , Rating: 1
I admit I haven not followed apple products. Is the touch just a disabled iPhone? I'm assuming no right? So how the hell does mail maps etc. work? Do you need to be in a wifi zone for it to work? Seems kinda useless if so, well except for maybe mail.

I'm dying to know because my gf got 3 freaking ipod touches for xmas, opened the 16gb one, the other two are still unopened.




RE: Wait ... How do these all work?
By winterspan on 1/16/2008 9:27:04 AM , Rating: 3
Whatever shall you do? Surely it would be too much effort to type in wikipedia.com


By deeznuts on 1/16/2008 12:51:23 PM , Rating: 2
I've been told to stay away from wiki. Whenever it is offered up as a resource you get, "yeah sure, wiki of course is so reliable ..." ;)

Got my answer though. Essentially pointless IMO. I guess it's good if you don't already have a smartphone of sorts and already carry an ipod touch around.


By PandaBear on 1/16/2008 8:36:29 PM , Rating: 2
No, the wireless phone parts were missing and the PCB layout is different.


May be an isolated case....
By tkengalnd on 1/15/2008 6:54:04 PM , Rating: 1
I purchased an iPod Touch just last week. Curiously, it let me download the new update with out asking for money. I didn't notice anything new on my homescreen though, but I haven't really explored it yet. Perhaps I was grandfathered in because it was so recently purchased. I'll update later after I check it out.




RE: May be an isolated case....
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 1/15/2008 6:57:15 PM , Rating: 3
You likely downloaded the 1.1.3 firmware update.

The Application update is a separate download that costs $19.95 and includes Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.


RE: May be an isolated case....
By tkengalnd on 1/15/2008 7:33:49 PM , Rating: 3
Glad somebody around here is paying attention.... That is in fact exactly what it was. Still, since they price match for 14 days after purchase (which is the only reason I was willing to shell out for one so close to MacWorld), I wonder if I can get them to upgrade me for free.


If you don't like it.....
By Vanilla Thunder on 1/16/2008 10:26:09 AM , Rating: 3
Then don't buy it. Please, will you all stop whining about Apple charging $20 for an UPGRADE . I'm sure all the owners of the Archos players would love to add a thing or two about having to purchase upgrades for their PMP's. But I doubt you'll see a DT article bashing Archos for their business practices, because they're just not as hip to bash as Apple.

vanilla




RE: If you don't like it.....
By clnee55 on 1/16/2008 2:57:05 PM , Rating: 3
Exactly. It is funny people can spend $300/400 for an itouch but scream about the $20 upgrade. I guess most people don't really own the itouch, they just want to find a way to bash job and apple.


I'll continue to preach it:
By wwwebsurfer on 1/15/2008 11:54:41 PM , Rating: 2
I don't care how much better Apple products are in my field (professional photography and digital design). I don't care how well they play together either. I won't even bow to my general trend to keep all products under the same brand name.

I WILL NOT BUY YOUR PRODUCTS WITH THESE RETARDED BUSINESS PRACTICES.

I also won't be buying Vista, from XP x64 straight to linux (Adobe & Newtek are promising the next releases to be 64 bit and linux compatible.)




RE: I'll continue to preach it:
By neothe0ne on 1/16/2008 12:20:09 AM , Rating: 3
Given the current condition of Flash Player for 64-bit.. I wouldn't bank on Adobe's word.


Apple is screwing their customers
By Darth on 1/16/2008 1:44:20 AM , Rating: 1
I wouldn't mind if Apple charges all ipod touch customers $20 for the application upgrade but this is not the case. It's the principle. I would go as far as saying un-ethical. Money isn't even the issue. Leave it up to the wanna-be-superior people at Apple to come up with this idea of screwing the customers. Very disappointed!




By WileCoyote on 1/16/2008 3:05:23 AM , Rating: 2
un-ethical? principle? screwing the customer? what? drama drama drama


By clnee55 on 1/17/2008 12:17:05 PM , Rating: 2
Apple begins to get more customers from the PC world, who get used to free junk stuff on the web. They will need to adjust to the whining of those customers


It's perfectly fair to charge for the update....
By MangoSRT8 on 1/16/08, Rating: 0
By Proteusza on 1/16/2008 8:37:54 AM , Rating: 3
How about the fact that the iPod Touch and iPhone are practically identical in terms of hardware.

Upgrade for iPhone = free
Upgrade for iPod = $20

Does anything strike you as strange about that? Care to think a bit, instead of sucking on Apple's teat?


By Snuffalufagus on 1/16/2008 1:49:43 PM , Rating: 2
It's not the 'average Dailytech reader', it's people who don't choose to blindly follow an ass like Jobs but also happen to frequent this site.


I wouldn't be surprised...
By One43637 on 1/15/2008 6:36:38 PM , Rating: 2
... if they suddenly reverse that and start offering the update for free to Touch users also.




Really...
By Gholam on 1/16/2008 3:21:38 AM , Rating: 2
I don't understand what the Apple Faithful are upset about. They've been paying $129 per OSX service pack for years, what's another $20?




Just keeping attorney busy
By pomaikai on 1/16/2008 10:11:13 AM , Rating: 2
They want all the press they can get. You know someone who purchased will sue over the fact the new products have it, yet the old ones have to pay. I see another class action.

Personally I have seen enough bad press about apple that I wouldnt touch one of there products nor recomend them to anyone I know. Just another way that apple screws early adopters.




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