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iPod touch 3.1 only $4.95 - includes 3.0!
- Thread starter mzd
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Wow,almost wised I waited to get 3.0,well too late I paid 10 bucks for it.But now I can get 3.1 imediatly without waiting.
Probably anything 1.x or 2.x to 3.1, as the update from 3.0 to 3.1 is free for iPod touch users.
It's kind of funny... The early adopters among us (myself included) have paid $20 for the JSU, $10 for 2.0, and $10 for 3.0 - a total payout of $40.
Somebody who has held out at version 1.1.5, sans JSU, can now end up with the exact same software for a total payout of $5.
Somebody who has held out at version 1.1.5, sans JSU, can now end up with the exact same software for a total payout of $5.
Assuming you're talking about an iPod touch and not an iPhone, that's probably because you skirted Apple's official policy by downloading 2.0 and 3.0 through unauthorized channels, or by piggybacking on somebody else's iTunes account who had already paid for their upgrades. (2.1 and 2.2 were free for everybody who already had a previous incarnation of 2.x; they were supposed to be $10 for anybody who had stuck with 1.x.)
IMO upgraders who go though unofficial channels, apparently such as you, are a separate category.
Anyway, no matter how you slice it, it's already been announced that the upgrade to 3.1 through official channels will be free for everybody who already has 3.0, so you're absolutely right, since you already have 3.0, this upgrade is going to be free for you.
This is the iPod, not the iPhone, the iPhone gets these updates for free, the iPod touch on the other hand has to pay for the major updates.
Its not the same if you think about it. What about the time that someone who has paid early has enjoyed all the new features vs. someone who waited? Meaning, you have to take amortization into account. I'm still on 2.xx and while I will get a better deal by waiting to get 3.1.1 for just $5, I missed out on the features vs. someone who paid when 3.0.0 debuted.
I feel your pain. I bought 3.0 at launch but it was so buggy that I reverted to 2.2.1 almost immediately, and decided to wait for 3.1. I contacted Apple this morning and explained that I never actually got the benefit of 3.0 and politely requested that they consider a refund of the difference (went from NZ$13.99 to NZ$4.95). Apple declined.
hopefully apple will learn by 4.0 ipod touch users will pay $1.29 for the update. lol
then in 5.0 FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!
For tax reasons it can't be free, unless the law changes, but hopefully by 5.0 they have an entirely different device.
then why are the updates free?
(2.1, 2.2? 3.1? for existing 3.o users) for ipod touch users.then why are the updates free?
It depends mainly on how Apple defines "major new features" as opposed to bug fixes and minor refinements.
Bug fixes and minor refinements are fine to give away for free because they don't constitute any significant change in functionality from the product they originally sold to you.
On the other hand, if they add major new features, according to generally accepted accounting principles, apparently they technically sold you an "incomplete" product in the first place, and they're making the product "complete" now by way of the firmware update. In order to do that, apparently they are not permitted to put their complete revenue for the sale of the product on the books until after the feature-complete product has been fully delivered.
Since Apple apparently puts the revenue for the sale of an iPod touch on their books immediately, the product is deemed to be complete upon delivery and no major new features are permitted. To get around that limitation, they can designate the the major new features as a separate product, distinct from the product they initially sold to you. But in order to do that, they apparently need a separate line of income on the books to cover those new features.
They don't need to do that for the iPhone, apparently, because they break down recognition of the money they've received for the sale of iPhones over the course of several years. (In reality, only the original iPhone 2G involved a real ongoing flow of revenue form the carrier to Apple over the course of the iPhone's contract. But apparently there is some accounting magic they can play with subsequent models of iPhones to have the same effect on the books, even if there is no real flow of dollars. They didn't use similar accounting magic with the iPod touch.) Hence the delivery of the feature-complete product can be broken out over time as well.
I'm sure there are other subtleties that are missing from my analysis, because corporate accounting seems horrendously complicated and I am not competent to understand all of it. But I hope I've got a reasonable understanding of the core issue.
I also bought the $10 buck version a month or so ago.
I seemed to download 3.1 for free.
I accessed the itunes store with my pod hooked up & all login's in place. At no time was there any reference to $4.95.
Of course I could get a invoice days later for the $$ but it seems to have been free.
Disclaimer; I did not read all the fine print of the TOS agreement.
eta, I was not going to lay out *another* $5 for the update!
I seemed to download 3.1 for free.
I accessed the itunes store with my pod hooked up & all login's in place. At no time was there any reference to $4.95.
Of course I could get a invoice days later for the $$ but it seems to have been free.
Disclaimer; I did not read all the fine print of the TOS agreement.
eta, I was not going to lay out *another* $5 for the update!
Nope -- if you already bought 3.0, then 3.1 is totally free.
The olny circumstance in which you're requested to pay for 3.1 is if you're coming from any 1.x or 2.x version.
This is absolutely false. Do you have proof of any of this? The comparison to the iPhone doesn't pan out either because they can (and do) sell iPhones without a contract (for a higher price). Those iPhones still have access to the free updates.
In the end there are no laws to at prohibit a company from providing free updates, even major revisions, to a product. It happens every day.