Again, the "Accounting" reason for this charge is 100% grade A BS. There is absolutely no reason at all Apple has to charge for this update. They are only doing it because they know there is a small number of people out there who will pay to get it.
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Apple should offer two versions of the software. One with exchange support that you pay for and one without, because without Exchange support, they are doing absolutely nothing new.
You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. The accounting rule in question was brought in after the collapse of Enron because they stated revenue associated with certain initiatives in one quarter, and costs in a later quarter. Hence over-stating their profits. The SARBOX legislation came in as a direct result of this and companies have spent millions of dollars ensuring their compliance with it. Consulting firms have made a fortune out of helping people be compliant.
The side-effect of this is things like this. If the officially announced product did not include something, and then they want to add it, then according to SARBOX they have declared the profit in an earlier quarter and would have to declare a cost on their books in the quarter the update shipped. Do you seriously think Apple was just trying to charge us money with a $3 802.11n upgrade? Look at what that created in terms of rumor site bad press (and apple gets a lot of their free press from sites such as that so they do care.)
They likely made a loss on that initiative once they'd covered off the accounting side of it and making it available as a paid upgrade etc etc. A simple software update would have covered it.
As to why PSP upgrades are free. I don't know how they are recognized on Sony's books and frankly it might not matter since they are a Japanese company and not specifically subject to SARBOX (depending on how their corporate structure falls out.)
As for MSFT. X-box revenue is recognized over 2 years, which means they CAN give away free upgrades because they haven't recognized all the revenue. Note that accepted accounting convention around SARBOX allows the free upgrades to continue even past the two years. No idea why, but I think it's just deemed as having complied with the legislation.
Now, Apple recognizes iPhone revenue over 2 years, so iPhone users can get the upgrade for free. The iPod Touch is recognized IMMEDIATELY, in full. It is therefore subject to SARBOX.
Again, at $10 a pop, they aren't making money. They had to do EXTRA coding to make iTunes NOT just give you the upgrade for free. Build pages to sell it, figure out how to track if you've said "No" to the upgrade so as to not keep bothering you, adjust in channel inventory prices down by $10 so people can buy the upgrade and be "whole" once it's gone out etc etc etc. By the time they've done all of that it would be easier for them to just give it away for free. Your argument that they are just after money just makes no sense.
I like apple, but I am the first to admit when they screw up (mobileme was a farce, and the 3G launch was hardly a shining moment for them, compared to last year!) But in this case, they could have used the resources they put on making you pay for this upgrade in other areas which would have generated MORE revenue for apple. They don't think about specific isolated incidents of how to get $10 out of people. It's not worth it. That's not to say, when they are launching a new version of hardware, they don't stop and think and start taking out previously included items (Apple remote with computers used to be free, now isn't for example. This IS cheap in my opinion!) But the point is, they made that decision as part of the launch of a new product. They didn't just one day decide to stop including them on the same model, same revision, same everything, as a way of making a few more bucks. Large firms just don't think that way. It's counter-productive.
For sure, Apple wants to make lots of money, for sure they can get away with it because of their brand value, but they aren't doing it here just for fun. It's just not a good business decision. They're doing it because they have to.
When someone buys an iPod Touch, does it say, ANYWHERE, that you're entitled to free upgrades (other than bug fixes which restore functionality that you WERE supposed to have, if it isn't working properly)? No, it doesn't. For the iPhone, it's always been a major selling feature.
People just love to take an opportunity to knock apple for things like this. Truth be told, they probably think it's a great sign that they are doing the right thing. Because if THIS is what people are moaning about, then they're doing the really important parts of their job really well!
shaped sunglasses off for a second and realise that he probably had no other option of purchasing the object he desired, so he payed the asking price. In no way does that constitute to the pricing being acceptable and void of complaint. The fact that Apple has priced the product at nearly double its country of origin is disgusting.
