Have you ever, like me, wondered why the iPod touch has such a forlorn looking home screen with all that empty black space lying around doing nothing useful? When the iPhone already has some many other applications to fill that screen and both the devices have similar hardware and the same operating system, why not let iPod touch users have access to their email and Google Maps as well? If you did, congratulations, you now know. The answer, however, is not the most pleasant one.
It turns out that you can now have all the wonderful applications that existed exclusively on the iPhone till today, such as Mail, Google Maps, Notes and the Stocks and Weather widgets, on the iPod touch too along with the new features introduced today such as the customizable home screen and the ability to rent and watch movies from the iTunes Store on the device itself, if you are willing to pay a price for it. At $19.99, the price isn’t much but I’m not sure that owners of the device will look at that as any consolation.
Of all the announcements today, this one definitely won’t take the prize for the best one. I guess we now know why Apple kept reminding us that the iPhone is their best iPod yet. It does not ship with the promise of having you incur recurring costs, you see (though you never know). The bright side though, is that you can do a lot more with your iPod touch now without having to hack the device, should you choose to buy the software update, of course. Whether you’re a disgruntled iPod touch customer or an elated one, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment strings below.
At first I'm a bit annoyed at having to pay $20 for SW which shoulda been there in the first place. However, $20 for a liscense for all of the apps is actually not bad. I'll probably upgrade just so I do not have to use web-based email with safari. Maps is nice, but so is Google maps. In the end if you wait there will be gobs of freebie apps out there.
So... does the new iPod touch that you buy today already have this on it or do they also have to buy the "bonus pack?"
In the future, I would think they would automatically include this as a standard iPod.
I updated to 1.1.3 and then bought the "January upgrade" (the five apps). A few thoughts:
Firstly, the apps update downloaded really quickly, which suggests that they may have been included in the 1.1.3 file and just needed unlocking, so maybe people should wait and see if a third party hack appears.
If the paid update had only been the apps, Apple could have waited until they had the technology in place to sell apps developed using the SDK, and offered them there. They may have found less ill will doing it that way.
The big question is why is the AppleTV update free while this is paid for. It's like the airport firmware update from last year. Theories about subscription-based accounting abound, but I guess at the end of the day it's just how Apple decided to do it.
I'm sure I read that these apps will be standard in the future. Just make sure you buy an iPod with firmware 1.1.3. I'd think if you bought a 1.1.2 iPod Touch today it would come with a free upgrade, but it would be best to ask.
The $20 payment is ridiculous, but is I believe an attempt to comply with Sarbanes Oxley. Apparently giving away new features on a device already sold is stealing from the shareholders. All of the public companies are having to figure out how to comply with this ridiculous rule.
It does seem strange to me that AppleTV, iPhone, and iPod Touch all received software updates today, but only the iPod requires a fee to upgrade. On the other hand, existing iPod Touch owners knew exactly what they were getting when they bought it, so I think being able to add all of this functionality for such a low price can only be seen as a positive.
For me, the update makes the iPod Touch a much more interesting product. I have been holding out for an iPhone until my existing mobile contract runs out, but now that email and maps are available on the Touch I am not sure I need to wait any longer. For me the list of priorities is: iPod functions, Safari, Mail, and then the phone. Having not heard the greatest reviews of AT&T's phone service, especially in Phoenix, I am inclined to settle for the first three functions (which are present in the iPod Touch), and keep my existing phone.
This is a really sick move on Apple's part. $20 for an update that should have been there in the first place? It's not like they've innovated and brought along some brand new apps or anything. It's just copy-paste from the iPhone.
To quote fletcher: "The $20 payment is ridiculous, but is I believe an attempt to comply with Sarbanes Oxley"
This is absolute nonsense. As has already been pointed out, the Apple TV was also updated to deliver new features and in fact this was already done for the Touch and iPhone last year to deliver functions such as the WiFi Music Store. The real difference appears to be that Apple is happy to give out updates for free if they give the user access to functions that enable them to spend more money with Apple. The decision to charge $19.99 for an update that is free to new owners is absolutely disgraceful and makes the $5 Wireless-N update look cheap in comparison.
I don't want to overblow things but perhaps this is the time when Apple "jumps the shark". I know they are a company that needs to make money but this strikes me as an abuse of customers. These functions should have been on the Touch to begin with but clearly weren't to differentiate it further from the iPhone. The outcry following the release of the Touch is what has resulted in this delivery of the software update but there is no reason why Apple should have to charge for it beyond an apparent desire to milk existing customers for all they can. While I have been very happy with Apple in the past few years the last 12-months have thrown up so bad decisions that just aren't cool. Hell, even Microsoft delivered the new Zune software without charging for it but apparently Apple won't.
I'm not about to switch back to Windows or Linux but my goodwill towards Apple is suddenly starting to ebb.
The $20 price tag leaves a sour taste and it's hard to see Apple justify this one and come out with any dignity, especially since new iPod Touches will come with this software for free.
BTW, no I don't currently own an iPod Touch!
I own an iPod touch... In Mexico City huge mistake. Because apparently iPod touch owners from countries that don't have itunes store are not entitled to the right of "the five apps" I never thought Esteban Jobs could do something like this... how can this be fair?
Just bought an ITouch last eve at my local Apple store. Apple gave me a $20 discount on the IPod so that I could get the new updates without spending another $20. While I question the wisdom of charging for this update (at least, charging $20) -- the lack of these apps is why I didnt buy one when it first came out. I'm not doing the IPhone thing because I dont want to be tied to AT&T. Happy they added the apps, and cant wait to see what 3rd party developers come up with in February.
At first I thought that if Apple was going to include the apps on the latest "touch" then they should have been included for free for those who led the way to buying this product. But then impatience got ahead of me and I downloaded the apps. Problem is that Mail doesn't work for me, for the "touch" is telling me that it is unable to download e-mails to my Inbox because my smtp protocols are not SSL and my port is not 995. Can't this "touch" read my protocols ? And wouldn't you know it, it was Mail that I was most interested in and influenced me into buying the 5 apps.
Any work arounds on this issue with the mail? I assume it's .mac mail. Do you use dsl like I do and had to have a different outgoing server? Plz let me know! Thnks and sorry!
Tom