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iPod touch Rip Off - iPod Touch just purchased but Apple asking for Upgrade Fee
- Thread starter pubwvj
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Just because many people don't have problems, it doesn't make the experiences of the unlucky few any less important.
Besides, that isn't even the point of the thread. I believe the conversation has been centered more on Apple's greed.
Ivan P said:
Just because many people don't have problems, it doesn't make the experiences of the unlucky few any less important.
Besides, that isn't even the point of the thread. I believe the conversation has been centered more on Apple's greed.
I agree. It's pretty tacky for a brand new touch to be asking for a $10 upgrade fee right out of the box.
If an iPod Touch is sold new (especially from Apple) after the 2.0 software was made available, they should give it to you free. Contact iTunes support and they should throw it in your queue as a free download. They did this for the 'app pack' of Calendar, Mail and etc, I don't see why they wouldn't do the same for you.
As they'll be updated next week and no doubt come with 2.0 installed.. i would take this option...
Because, they announce on the store that you have to buy it separately. However, I could not believe it when I first heard about it, too. Legally they are not doing anything wrong, but I think it is a bit too much of nickel and diming the customers for a high end company.
If it is any consolation, making a service call and having it exchanged by mailing or going to the store, probably reduced their profit on that iPod to zero.
It's CLEARLY LISTED
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/
It's been that way since the release of iPod Touch.
I guess some people don't read up on anything they buy?
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It's not that. It's that 2.0 has been out almost 2 months and it's still not standard. 2.0 is a major part of Apple's advertising for the Touch, and yet it takes an additional $9.95 to get those features.
It's not like Apple not to include the latest software update on one of its products almost 2 months after it was released.
People whom had bought a Mac up to a month before Leopard (a paid update) was released got Leopard for free. And Leopard became standard immediately for all new Macs.
What Apple is doing is perfectly legal. But it's not really fair and it's not the Apple way.
Is this not daft tactics from Apple? If you don't upgrade to 2.0, you can't buy apps. If you can't buy apps, App Store makes less money.
Maybe apple is trying to save you money by charging for the upgrade?
Any time I looked at the touch pages on Apple site, I thought the upgrades were for current users, I didn't think it meant new users would not get 2.0 out of the box, after all after the first upgrade new Touches came with the new version.
I'd have been miffed too if I just bought an iPod touch and had to pay extra to buy more stuff from Apple.
Maybe apple is trying to save you money by charging for the upgrade?
Any time I looked at the touch pages on Apple site, I thought the upgrades were for current users, I didn't think it meant new users would not get 2.0 out of the box, after all after the first upgrade new Touches came with the new version.
I'd have been miffed too if I just bought an iPod touch and had to pay extra to buy more stuff from Apple.
the OP has a point since it was a newly purchased product. it's not a matter of it being clearly marked or not either, it is just a poor business model to charge to put an update on a piece of hardware when the advertising points/features/reviews/etc all make use of features found in the update (no matter how many places you throw * notes stating which features require the upgrade). i think having the upgrade fee initially for those who purchased ipod touches was reasonable since the upgrade wasn't a matter of support for the product which is the only type of upgrade that can really be expected for free.
But besides the business model questioning the idea of optional feature upgrades to the base operating system of a tech product strikes me as a future coding problem. for a device that apple is constantly working to limit hacks on, as well as deal with the security problems caused by having an internet capable device; having many different versions of their software and optional upgrades could become a large problem if they continue the idea. i dont think they will though, my bet is that they are just milking the cow before sending it to the butcher, i would not expect to see another "pay for version upgrade" until version 2.0 becomes standard for free on all products.
But besides the business model questioning the idea of optional feature upgrades to the base operating system of a tech product strikes me as a future coding problem. for a device that apple is constantly working to limit hacks on, as well as deal with the security problems caused by having an internet capable device; having many different versions of their software and optional upgrades could become a large problem if they continue the idea. i dont think they will though, my bet is that they are just milking the cow before sending it to the butcher, i would not expect to see another "pay for version upgrade" until version 2.0 becomes standard for free on all products.
I ended up with 2.0 for free. Just got a new Touch a few weeks ago. There's one dead pixel so I sent it back under the warranty (this before I knew that Apple wasn't going to consider one dead pixel a cause for replacing).
For some reason in their diagnostics they upgraded the software to 2.0 at no charge. For what it's worth, so far I'm underwhelmed by the apps in the app store.
And I agree with what most people seem to be saying here. Apple isn't deceiving anyone, they're just not being very smart. 2.0 should be standard with a new Touch.
For some reason in their diagnostics they upgraded the software to 2.0 at no charge. For what it's worth, so far I'm underwhelmed by the apps in the app store.
And I agree with what most people seem to be saying here. Apple isn't deceiving anyone, they're just not being very smart. 2.0 should be standard with a new Touch.
After talking with 11 Apple tech support people, who successively passed me from one to another, they could not get this iPod Touch to work properly. Turned out it had even more problems than thought at the start. They finally declared it dead, after 7.5 hours of diagnosis and going over the same thing over and over by multiple techs. Part of that was three hours of hold time as each time I had to call back. Apple is replacing the iPod Touch.
Ironically, the Apple person who filed the Return made five mistakes on the return so I had to call back one more time. After talking upward through three rep levels the third one apologized profusely for all the mistakes and problems and corrected the issues with the return. Hopefully it is all set now and the replacement will work out of the box. He, and several techs, said that normally they work fine out of the box but occasionally there is a bad apple.
I've had Mac products since the original 128K (and before the Apple II). Normally they are great and the tech support is great. I've never had such a bad experience. Hopefully this is the one in 30 year fluke of bad luck.
Ironically, the Apple person who filed the Return made five mistakes on the return so I had to call back one more time. After talking upward through three rep levels the third one apologized profusely for all the mistakes and problems and corrected the issues with the return. Hopefully it is all set now and the replacement will work out of the box. He, and several techs, said that normally they work fine out of the box but occasionally there is a bad apple.
I've had Mac products since the original 128K (and before the Apple II). Normally they are great and the tech support is great. I've never had such a bad experience. Hopefully this is the one in 30 year fluke of bad luck.
I've just been looking into the 2.1 upgrade and came across this thread.
I received an iPod Touch 16GB in May, as a present.
And less than 4 months later I find that I am being asked to pay for a firmware upgrade for it???
I believe that the warranty period should include firmware updates, and I find it offensive that Apple should be asking me to pay a tax for an upgrade (whose main purpose seems to be to allow me to buy Apple products that I would otherwise not have access to?).
I have in the past defended Apple when people have said their products are proprietary and a rip-off.
But unfortunately, my opinion has now changed, and I'm afraid that I must now accept that that is indeed the case.
Based on that, I will tend to do other than choose Apple for my future purchases.
I'll be buying a new laptop in side the next month, and was planning on it being an Apple, but sadly this $10/£6 penny-pinching tax has turned me off the idea, and I'll be off to Dell.
There is a phrase "don't bite the hand that feeds you", and that is exactly what Apple have done in my case.
I received an iPod Touch 16GB in May, as a present.
And less than 4 months later I find that I am being asked to pay for a firmware upgrade for it???
I believe that the warranty period should include firmware updates, and I find it offensive that Apple should be asking me to pay a tax for an upgrade (whose main purpose seems to be to allow me to buy Apple products that I would otherwise not have access to?).
I have in the past defended Apple when people have said their products are proprietary and a rip-off.
But unfortunately, my opinion has now changed, and I'm afraid that I must now accept that that is indeed the case.
Based on that, I will tend to do other than choose Apple for my future purchases.
I'll be buying a new laptop in side the next month, and was planning on it being an Apple, but sadly this $10/£6 penny-pinching tax has turned me off the idea, and I'll be off to Dell.
There is a phrase "don't bite the hand that feeds you", and that is exactly what Apple have done in my case.
By the way, when doing the 2.0 or the 2.1 upgrade do not have Classic running on a PPC Mac. It deep crashes the iPod Touch, and I suspect the iPhone, such that you lose everything and must waste time reinstalling all music, applications, contacts, calendars, etc.
Apple should be testing to see if Classic is running before they run the iPod Touch / iPhone 2.0 and 2.1 upgrades.
Apple should be testing to see if Classic is running before they run the iPod Touch / iPhone 2.0 and 2.1 upgrades.
pardon me, what is Classic? (if its a mac app i dont have a mac so i wouldnt know
It allowed applications from Mac OS 9 to be run in Mac OS X. I say 'allowed' because Leopard doesn't support it and in addition neither does any Mac running on an Intel processor.
In a recent call with Apple Support they stated that Classic is no longer supported. The techs (canned) response for that was the fact (sadly) that no current Macintosh system supports Classic, nor does the current shipping operating system. In IT terms, the support for Classic environment in older systems is now "Best Effort".
Sadly, this means that Classic is likely no longer considered a variable within R&D of new products. I had your "hard Crash" situation when upgrading my iPod touch V1.0 on my Quicksilver with my classic environment loaded.
.One quick question (sorry if I missed this), did you ask if you could get a free upgrade to 2.0 software when on the phone with support. I recieved a free update to my first generation iPod Touch when they originally included Google Maps, Stocks (etc) back when that was the new iPod Touch feature set. In sort, my iPod was shipped with the older software that didn't include this, and I was faced with paying $20.00 to get that functionality.