3.0 Should appear before the 24 month deadline. So even the very first iPhone purchasers should be entitled to it. 3.0 also contains bug fixes and features announced a long time ago.
3.1 is another matter.
C.
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Paid updates for 1G iPhones coming?
- Thread starter Carniphage
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3.0 Should appear before the 24 month deadline. So even the very first iPhone purchasers should be entitled to it. 3.0 also contains bug fixes and features announced a long time ago.
3.1 is another matter.
C.
From what I remember, Steve Jobs said that updates to the OS will always be free for the iPhone. Are you guys saying that the case is only true if you renew your contract?
So... Apple has said, again and again, that iPhone users won't be charged with updates.
What is more likely to happen is that certain parts of the update won't be compatible with the old hardware anymore. Example, the Blutooth and MMS functionality from 3.0 won't be available to 1st Gen iPhone users. Why? Hardware doesn't support it.
So, its more likely that Apple will stop updating because hardware will not cope long before they charge.
No. Nothing to do with contracts or how you got your phone.
The question is, after 24 month, does the iPhone become like the iPod Touch.
Remember, iPod users must pay for the 3.0 software. (What is it, $5 or something?) iPhone users get it for free. So, the question here is about 4.0 software. The 2008 and 2009 iPhone will get it for free. iPod users will have to pay for that too...will first-gen 2007 iPhone users have to pay?
That's the question and I don't think anyone really knows for sure. If you remember Jobs saying that, then that's the first evidence we've had in this thread one way or the other.
Well, there wasn't a "12 month" deadline, but really nothing shows that 3.0 will be out before 1st genners are done with their contracts.
Oh, and Steve said they'd always be free, so it's a moot point.
This has nothing at all to do with contracts, carriers or monthly payments to your provider.
With both the AppleTV and the iPhone, For accounting reasons, Apple decided to recognise the income in a different way; as a series of payments instead of one big lump.
What I am suggesting is that once the device is really old (24 months +) 100% of the revenue of a product will have been recognised, Apple will no longer be able to treat the device as if it is within a paid subscription.
The accounting rules have it that once a consumer has bought a device, they can't have free new features without a payment. Anyone remember the 802.11n "enabler"?
The alternative is simply that after 2 years, Apple simply stop updating and only offer free bug-fixes.
Either way, it is no big deal, the likely cost of a paid feature update is probably going to be $5 or $10.
C.
Apple isn't one to do something like that.
I think they'll continue to give free bug-fixes, but after 3.0 if the first-gen iPhone want's any new features, they'll have to upgrade to the new iPhone.
They won't even give paying to upgrade an option
But that's just on what I think would be the Apple thing to do.
Didn't I just say? " The alternative is simply that after 2 years, Apple simply stop updating and only offer free bug-fixes."
So yes, perhaps bug-fixes only after 3.0 for 1st gen-ers.
C.
Even if you didn't physically purchase it, somebody did.
I doubt we'll have to pay though. I don't care anyway... new iPhone for me this year... if they release one!
Apple's Accounting
I read into Apple's financial statements and the way they are accounting for the iPhone has nothing to do with AT&T. They account for iPhone (and AppleTV) revenue on a subscription basis because they consider the purchase arrangement of an iPhone (or AppleTV) to include "Unspecified Additional Software Products." Because they do not specify what will be made available to the consumer in the future, they must classify it this way. However, the accounting procedures discussed in the statement are very vague and if Apple were to consistently provide software updates to their products (which they do) then any updates can be considered "Postcontract Customer Support" (PCS) and does not have to be explicitly stated as long as there is historical evidence that they provide updates.
So...pretty much Apple could provide free software updates for any product it wants or they could charge for it if they so please.
I asked a CPA about this and he said that Apple could give any software update they wanted to their customers for FREE and their accountants would figure out how to account for it.
P.S. sorry if that confused anyone
Questions?
I read into Apple's financial statements and the way they are accounting for the iPhone has nothing to do with AT&T. They account for iPhone (and AppleTV) revenue on a subscription basis because they consider the purchase arrangement of an iPhone (or AppleTV) to include "Unspecified Additional Software Products." Because they do not specify what will be made available to the consumer in the future, they must classify it this way. However, the accounting procedures discussed in the statement are very vague and if Apple were to consistently provide software updates to their products (which they do) then any updates can be considered "Postcontract Customer Support" (PCS) and does not have to be explicitly stated as long as there is historical evidence that they provide updates.
So...pretty much Apple could provide free software updates for any product it wants or they could charge for it if they so please.
I asked a CPA about this and he said that Apple could give any software update they wanted to their customers for FREE and their accountants would figure out how to account for it.
P.S. sorry if that confused anyone
Questions?
For a while now Apple has acted in a very consistent way.
1) All bug fixes and security improvements are free
2) All substantive *new* features must be paid for with a small fee. I don't think new features are included in PCS.
Examples: 802.11n enabler / iPod Touch upgrades etc.
3) Apple then moved to Subscription Accounting for just two products; The AppleTV and the iPhone. This method allows Apple to issue free feature additions throughout the lifetime of the product.
In the case of the iPhone that lifetime was deemed to be 24 months.
My guess is that Apple will drop 3.0 (not necessarily bug-free) before the worlds oldest iPhone reaches it's 2'nd birthday. Free bug fixes may follow.
C.
Reference (especially for the "always" bit) please?
It does nothing of the sort.Tallest Skil said:
The fact that Apple does, indeed, use subscription-based accounting for products such as the Apple TV, is proof of the assertion that subscription-based accounting has absolutely nothing to do with any real ongoing flow of dollars into Apple's coffers.
Apple's accounting bureau takes a one-time lump-sum payment (the purchase price of the Apple TV) but only acknowledges its existence little by little over the course of 24 months. The same would be true of freebie giveaway products, except instead of deferring realization of a lump-sum payment over the course of 24 months, they'd be deferring the writing-off of a lump-sum loss over the course of 24 months.