[Macworld]

Post your comments for iPod touch owners can add more apps?for a price here

[beto]

So, why they made that decision? I live in Colombia (South America) and a cousin have an iPod Touch... a) he can't have access to an iTunes Store catalog (except for Podcasts) from my country...; b) what is have to be a free upgrade for international users now they can't upgrade to those feature aforementioned in the article just because my cousin can't have access to the iTunes Store and buy; c) 20 bucks for five apps? That's just greedy!. How in the hell is he (my cousin) gonna enjoy those features? Buy another iPod Touch with the new capabilities? Steve Jobs made the worst decision possible on this, my cousin just called me and he is very, very pissed off!!

[TAllenSr]

I guess I now have a small taste of what the early iPhone'ers felt after the price drop. I bought my kids iPod touches for Christmas, and now I have to drop another $40 to get them the update. And all they will really want is Mail and Web Clips. If they are going to charge for this SW, they could at least let you pick-n-choose ala carte.
The more I think about it, the more I think it stinks a bit. These apps should have been there all along, and it costs Apple ZERO to provide the update. Heck, I would even be happy with a $1.99 fee like they did with the Airport Extreme Enabler.
I also see no mention of it being included on all future iPod touches, so I guess they truly are looking at this as a revenue generator. It would make sense if they lowered the touch price accordingly, or if they were already "value priced". But there is plenty of margin in the touch that charging for this SW is unnecessary.
OK...I have ranted far too long about something that I am really not all that upset about.

[Argent]

The $19.99 fee seems high, especially since new iPod touches come with the additional apps pre-installed. Is this because of another accounting rule?

With the February arrival of the SDK, my guess is that henceforth, Apple will be treating major software additions to the iPhone and iPod touch the same way they do with Macs. When you buy a new Mac, you get the latest version of iLife as part of the package. If you already own a Mac, you have to buy it separately and upgrade.

[jmeredith]

I'll gladly update my Touch for the fee. Seems like quite a bargain.
However, you don't have Edge based web browsing with the Touch since that requires the calling features. Nor would you have Voice Mail.
Can't wait to try Maps

[MorrisTheCat]

>essentially giving the music player the same capabilities as the iPhone, with the notable exception of calling features.
I know one MacWorld staff member who will disagree a little with this. The touch still has no external volume control like the iPhone, which would be handy, but no deal breaker anyway.
What IS a deal breaker for me is that they haven't increased capacity yet on the touch. I'm guessing that 32 GB of flash is still a little too pricey to include without a price hike- something Apple probably would not want to do.
So, I wait. I just won't bite until it can hold most, if not all, of my music/videos/photos.

[NW_Mike]

Or if you have a 'jailbroken/hacked' touch you get Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather, and Notes for free. From what I've read, anyway...

[fxgeek]

From what I can tell, you only have to pay for the Apps. You can still get the 1.1.3 update for the iPod touch for free. I'm downloading it now.

[sperrier]

Not for me! I already paid the same amount for my touch as I would have for an iPhone. I didn't need or want a phone but I did want an iPod. Why is the moey I spent not as good as an iPhone users? Bad move Apple......

[Geiordiekeith]

And what about iPod games, which are available for the 5G iPods but not the lovely big screen of the Touch????

[hayesk]

You people complaining really need to get over yourselves. It's $20 for five applications. If you don't want them, don't buy them.
Yes, the new ones come with them, so what? New Macs come with Leopard - old ones don't. Yet, you don't here anyone complaining Leopard should be a free download.
It really is that simple. Buy the apps or don't. Apple doesn't owe you anything.

[JohnVL]

For those who think the $19.99 is too much to spend, I'd suggest waiting a month and seeing what the SDK release will bring--perhaps some of the same features will be offered free or more cheaply by independent developers. From what I've seen of the new features, $19.99 is reasonable. No one forced us to buy the Touch as it was and unlike those who cried foul when Jobs lowered the price on the iPhone, I think we got what we were paying for and the same choice is ours with this upgrade.

[MacCheetah3]

Hi

Geiordiekeith said:

And what about iPod games, which are available for the 5G iPods but not the lovely big screen of the Touch????

I agree that this is much more disappointing.

I'll probably get the five apps. Mail, Weather, Maps, and Notes would certainly be very convenient. Stocks, not so much for me. :)

[macsrock1]

What a lousy move by Apple. Obviously they didn't learn a thing from the iPhone ordeal last year. I was thinking about getting a touch, but I see they truly treat the touch owners as inferior to the iPhone customers.