If you’re an iPod touch user who eagerly downloaded the software update v2.2 as soon as you heard about it, I imagine you must be feeling sorely disappointed right now. It turns out that although it shares most of the features with the iPhone, the iPod touch was treated to none of the Google Maps updates by Apple.
So although you can now access the iTunes’s podcast section and download podcasts, you can neither check out the Street View around 1 Infinite Loop nor get the walking directions or public transit information that will tell you how to sneak into Apple HQ. In other words, the Maps app on the iPod touch remains exactly as it used to be before the v2.2 update.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out any plausible reason for this omission. I have a few theories but both of them sound so lame to me that I imagine there must be a better reason.
It could either be because the iPod touch lacks GPS, or because Apple has a deal with Google that limits certain features from appearing on the iPod line, or maybe because Apple wanted to keep the update free for iPod touch users and would’ve had to charge for it if they’d added those extra Google Maps features.
Like I said, these reasons sound rather implausible, and it’s pure conjecture on my part. We have no way to know what the real reason is right now and your guess is good as ours. Do let us know your theories in the comments below and feel free to vent as well; these new Maps features are awesome and iPod touch users are definitely missing out on them.
[Via Gizmodo]
This smacks of willful ignorance on your part. We already know Apple has to charge for upgrades to the iPod Touch due to accounting laws they must abide by. Why would this be any different?
If they had made these upgrades available to iPod Touch users at 4.99 you'd be having a hissy fit about being charged for them. You can't have it both ways.
I think it's time to switch to Vista/Zune/HTC. They will do a much better job of pleasing you, no doubt.
@Anonymous: First up, take it down a notch. There's a valid question here: how come the iPod touch got *some* of the improvements in 2.2, but not others? Yes, Apple has charged for software updates for the touch due to accounting regulations, but those updates have usually offered the same features (where allowed by hardware) that the iPhone software has. So how come the touch got podcast downloading, but not the maps feature?
This isn't a matter of attacking Apple, it's a matter of curiosity. So, simmer.
Yes, yes, quite right...
I've heard a few people say it's because the touch doesn't have GPS, but that's ridiculous cuz my old G4 iMac definitely doesn't have GPS and street view still works perfectly fine on it. That dumbass accounting law is BULL SH*T. Apple, I am very disappointed and sad.
Simple: because some of the improvements are just that - improvements. Some are new features (i.e. maps). They must charge for new features. They can give improvements away for free.
And the reason I go up a notch or two at posts like this is because we all know this to be the case. Apple has been very clear about it. So this blogger is a) ignorant, b) not getting it, or c) playing dumb for the sake of posting something inflammatory.
So my advice to Aayush is to either think before posting or don't post something to incite bad will towards Apple.
Is that simmered enough for you, Dan?
Anonymous ease back on the red bull. The author has a fair question that the consumer has the right to know. I think that you should read the las paragraph again and realize it is an opinion piece and the author is not going to shot your dog if you do not agree.
@Anonymous: No, I think you went the opposite direction of simmering. I still think there's a reasonable question of where the line between "new features" and "improvements" lies? There was no ability to download podcasts on version 2.1 of the iPod touch's software, but that feature is in the 2.2 update. Why would that fall under "improvement" rather than "new feature": it seems like an arbitrary distinction.
Finally, if it was a matter of them not being able to roll improvements for free, why not make people pay for it, which they've shown no reluctance doing in the past?
You might do well to heed your own advice about thinking before posting.
I came here from TUAW to avoid junk like this.*
*And by "this," I mean half-baked rabble-rousing posts that serve no purpose other than to deliver a black eye to Apple from the people that supposedly make up their base.
Angry Drunk was right - the Mac "faithful" are out of their minds with their sense of entitlement.
Correct me if I'm mistaken, but iTouch only connects to the internet via WiFi, no?
Then how useful is Streetview when one is, ah, on the street?
@Anonymous: We're under no obligation to be "nice" to Apple, nor do I think this post claims that people are entitled to anything. But as I've said several times, there's a valid question here: how come the new Maps features aren't in the iPod touch update, for free *or* for a charge?
Sorry if you're disappointed that we haven't all prostrated ourselves at the altar of Steve Jobs.
@Anonymous
This website happens to be a blog, as TUAW is as well. A commercial blog, yes, but a blog where people expect weblog (read: journal) style material.
Just throwing it out there since no one has heard from Apple: mistake?
The lack of GPS can't be the reason if rev A iPhones get the upgrade--they don't have GPS either.
Either Anonymous is right (if angry and arrogant about it), and this is deemed a new feature (is there a legal test for new vs. improved features?), or it's a mistake. I can think of no other explanation.
Downloading podcasts is a new feature of the iTunes WiFi store, not the iPod touch or iPhone, Dan. All they did is add a link to a new section of the store. At least, that's the argument I'd use to justify why it's not a new feature.
Of course the other question still remains: if Apple can account for Apple TV sales as subscriptions, why can't it do the same with touches? If I ever consider a run for public office, you don't have to shoot me, just show me some accounting laws. That should scare me straight. Any law that prevents a company from providing free updates to consumers is seriously flawed.
So why, exactly, would Apple have to charge for an update made to a FREE 3rd party App?!?
Some random developer who posted to a site said it was left out because it drained the iPod Touch's battery like crazy, but it was fine on the iPhone. Something about the firmware. iPhone firmware on the Touch is bad for its battery. Or something.
There was a comment on one of the popular Mac forums from a developer who had been playing with the 2.2 beta software on his iPod touch - the pre-release version that HAD street view and the other maps enhancements. His claim was that the new features were a nightmare, crashy, buggy, slow, and generally unusable. On the iPhone they were fine.
Maybe it just wasn't ready and Apple were more concerned about getting the security and stability updates out ASAP.
Not just iPod but iPhone v1 users don't get the new map features as well. That sucks!
I was going to buy an iTouch, but now I'll wait.
If we just ignore the noise from the fanboys for a moment... Apple provides this for the iPhone now before Christmas shopping season, then they release it for the itouch later. It is totally lame that Apple charges for that, but that's Apple for you. I would definitely wait before getting one.