Today at the Macworld keynote speech, Steve Jobs announced that they will be selling new applications for the iPod Touch. Applications many believed should have shipped with the iPod Touch since they were on the iPhone….they are: mail, stocks, weather, maps + chapter/ lyric support (new). This would be great news for iPod Touch owners but the problem is Apple wants to sell the set of applications to current iPod Touch owners for $20 dollars….weak.

Well I already have most of the applications sans the chapter/lyric because of the jailbreak software. So what do you think…are you going to pay for it? get mad and yell things? or just stick with your 1.11 hacked iPod Touch?

Share This

Get a Trackback link

39 Comments

1. Kevin, January 15, 2008:

   I love my touch just the way it is, so no I won’t be paying $20 to upgrade to what I essentially already have (minus all the great jailbroken stuff).

2. TommyFree, January 15, 2008:

   I think it’s bull. They already make almost 50% profit on every iPhone and iPoT they sell, it’s absurd that they would charge for apps that are freely available NOT ONLY to iPhone owners but to anyone buying an iPoT after the Keynote, where the apps come by default. Somebody should sue. Is this an indicator of how their SDK deal is all gonna work out? Everything available through iTunes for a price, or you can’t install it without a jailbreak? Bullshit. Total bullshit. I have a Mac, and it isn’t determined by Apple what apps I put on THERE, so why should it with an iPod? I digress…

   Now I’m really feeling for the early iPhone adopters who had to deal with the price cut last year. BS.

3. macjayce, January 15, 2008:

   Can’t believe how low this is. I love my Mac’s and my iPod Touch, but this is just some low way of making a few more bucks. Other software updates are free, why should i pay for this one.

4. naf, January 15, 2008:

   I wonder why Apple keeps deceiving the early adopters, why we, the early ipod touch users need to pay for some softwares that come free with an iphone? January updates charge $20, how about Feb or March? I wasn’t so hot about jail breaking, but now I will do it.

5. Diffision, January 15, 2008:

   Apple just took the Discussion in Support offline, I guess like, they don’t even need to erase complain messages

6. Eddie, January 15, 2008:

   I dont get it… This makes me think that Apple wants us to find more ways to hack the iPod touch… Ill just wait for a hacked upgrade, so I dont have to buy it… Quite sure it will be available for download somewhere soon…

   Everything else released in the MacExpo… GREAT… but paying for a service which should be free? BOOHOO Jobs. Actually… now I think of it, he probably knows everybody who bought an older version, already hacked his or hers touch anyway…

7. Mike, January 15, 2008:

   I just bought it. I agree that it is lame, but I really wanted notepad and I don’t want to hack mine. Oh well….

8. Hudson, January 15, 2008:

   Someone just needs to upload the new Maps app to the installer repository.. Bwahahaha!

9. gabe, January 15, 2008:

   Is there Mail, Maps, Weather, etc for the jailbroke verision of 1.12? I had those apps with 1.11 but once i switched to 1.12 and broke it, there doesnt seem to be any posted via Installer.app. Anyone know where i can go?

10. Nick, January 15, 2008:

    Fuck Apple,I swear to god,every fucking time they have a chance to make it up to people the fuck up.I had a ipod video break on me and they wouldnt fix it under warranty,their customer service is total bs,extended warrantys are the way to go,they fix shit they wont and cover their crappy batteries,i hacked my touch and am perfectley happy,although the pin marking seems new to the update you can purchase.i would be willing to bet that apple staff check sites like this to see what people are doing,and i hope this sends a clear message that people are NOT happy.fuck you apple…

11. cj, January 15, 2008:

    do i have to have a wifi conected to hack?

12. Dave, January 15, 2008:

    Quit complaining. If it’s that big of a deal, jailbreak.

13. cj, January 15, 2008:

    good point

14. sup, January 16, 2008:

    Wow. Didn’t see this coming at all. This completely reaffirms my distrust in Apple. Thankfully I already have all these apps on my jailbroken pod, and many more.

15. steven, January 16, 2008:

    I totally agree.

    Apple is just trying to make a couple of dollars for what is free now.

    The might only b able 2 do this with version 1.1.3? or later

    I also totally agree with nick. This is just s&%t. Somone should tell these f*$kwits where 2 put their profits.

16. Franqui, January 16, 2008:

    this is bs. i got my touch in the us and brought it back to argentina, here theres no itunes store, so not only do i have to pay $20 but i can’t pay them. dahhh

    and i don’t want to jailbreak for the warranty.

    i bet that in a couple of manths the upgrade will be free and they’l give the $20 back to be used on itunes.

    and i’ve never heard of paying upgrades for ipods, silly silly decision only makes apple look bad.

17. HackerAlert, January 16, 2008:

    Meh who cares.

    The firmware update is free, but if you want those apps you pay an extra 20 dollars, not that big of a deal – They do spend a lot of time and effort on these things, I don’t see why they can’t charge a few dollars…or 20.

    But those apps aren’t even that good, so IMO – You are stupid if you pay for them.

18. HackerAlert, January 16, 2008:

    Oh, Franqui.. Jailbreaking does void warranty, but if you do a simple force restore if anything goes wrong, they have no way of finding out it was jailbroken.

    Then again, if you force restore, you can start all over again from firmware 1.1.1, so the problem will most likely be gone.

19. fyx, January 16, 2008:

    I agree that this charging is not at all cool, if old touch users have to pay then new touch users should ALSO have to pay. It really does proove that as it currently stands early adoption is not the key with apple. I to am sure that it will be broken at the apps made available to the public with apple probably taking a huge amount of slack for charging $20! forcing them to make it free and refunding as someone said eariler to a itunes credit.

    If they had offered it free you would have found that a lot of jail broken touches would be revited back to normal, that in itself surely would have warrented the no fee approach from apples point of view.

20. SeaGraph, January 16, 2008:

    Well to be perfectly honest at first I told my self shit 20$!!!!!??!?!?! then I said to myself…. no more hacking…. it official it works… NO BUGS and we already “pay” for our PC and mac software why not on the ipod….

    so… stop being cheap… and just pay the 20$. I certainly dont regret it at all….
    =) Support great products…..

21. Relax People, January 16, 2008:

    People, just relax.

    1.1.3 is the new firmware, the $20 apps are an add-on.

    The bug fixes in 1.1.3 are valuable, and 1.1.3 will be jailbroken in a few days. Just wait till then and enjoy your jailbroken 1.1.2 touch.

22. sup, January 16, 2008:

    > The bug fixes in 1.1.3 are valuable

    really? what are they?

23. NickB, January 16, 2008:

    hold on…. i accidentally upgraded my iTouch to 1.1.3, then found out about jailbreaking. Is it still possible to downgrade it to 1.1.1? i’ve been having trouble.

24. Lonman06, January 16, 2008:

    Just download the 1.1.1, search for it on google, and force a restore back down to it.

25. Lonman06, January 16, 2008:

    I posted a link on my website about all 1.1.3 has to offer:
    http://lonman06.com

26. daniel, January 16, 2008:

    THe 1.1.3 firmware has the new apps built-in, if you buy the software, a very small file will be dowloaded to “unlock” the apps present in the firmware.

    why not write to steve@mac.com¿?

27. shish189, January 16, 2008:

    What happens when Apple decides to release new apps for iPod users will they charge 20+ dollars for all iPod users (not just the touch)? I think Apple is using this 20 dollar few as test for future iPod products, just like the MacBook Air and its multi touch track pad to incorporate into all line of MacBooks. For me I don’t care for the new apps I just use my iPod touch for Music, Safari, and YouTube.

28. Bill, January 16, 2008:

    I grew up with Apple and it’s been my favorite company, even today. This recent charge for an update which should be free is just them testing the waters. I will be damned if I ever made the mistake of buying a product when the alternative is completely free. I don’t agree with the iPod being closed source and jailbreak has made the world a better place.

    Let Apple know you’re displeased and they’ll back off.

29. Patrick Bateman, January 16, 2008:

    The 1.1.3 software has all 5 apps included, what you pay for is the activation code so the Touch knows to load the software onto the menu.
    Someone here HAS to know how to hack that up. It must be simpler than a full out jailbreak……..

30. NickB, January 16, 2008:

    UGH. 1.1.3 doesn’t let you downgrade to 1.1.1 or even 1.1.2!!!! so i guess i’ll just wait until someone jailbreaks the 1.1.3. hopefully that won’t be too long.

31. Angel, January 17, 2008:

    So, there no way to see the lyrics of a song in the ipod ?

32. Sebstarr, January 17, 2008:

    Well, despite loving my hacked iPod Touch, and despite HATEFULLY knowing how much of a ripoff that this upgrade was, i bought it, and, I’m shamefully impressed. No, it wasn’t worth its obscene amount, but you can see just how much better Apple does certain things than other people (i.e, I’m loving the way the icons wiggle, and the way i can rearrange the icons just by dragging them across the home screen). I’m Pissed that they had to be greedy about it, but I still would be willing to pay for more apps by apple when they come out, as opposed to jailbreaking my iPod over again.

    I guess theres always going to be people who will just go along with the price even though they disagree with it.

33. Peter, January 18, 2008:

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned the Sarbanes-Oxley Act yet. That is the most likely explanation for charging for the extra 5 apps.

    You will notice that the Apple TV got a free update, as did the iPhone. Why? Apple doesn’t take credit for the entire purchase of an Apple TV or iPhone the quarter you buy it, it’s spread out over 24 months. They do take full credit for the iPod Touch when you buy it.

    The Sarbanes-Oxley Act says you can’t give a product new features unless you re-calculate the costs of the new features and apply them to previously claimed earnings. What company is going to do that? This is the same issue with the $5 patch to support 802.11n support in the computers a while back.

    Apple doesn’t want to be the next Enron. Could they have charged less? Maybe, but considering iPod games are generally $4 a pop, they kept the same pricing.

    In the end, is it unfortunate? Yes. But thank Enron and other companies that abused the system for it, don’t blame Apple.

34. hut, January 19, 2008:

    Free APP For iPod Touch Petition to Apple Inc.

    http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?freeappi&1$

    hut

35. Lonman06, January 19, 2008:

    Posted this in the other link, but here it is again 1.1.3 Jailbreak is completed!

    http://lonman06.com/2008/01/19/ipod-touch-113-jailbreak-completed/

36. Eric, January 29, 2008:

    The public wouldn’t understand why they were being offered something for free. “Oh no its going to break! Software update? No I don’t do those. Download this for $20? Sure.”

37. cel, February 8, 2008:

    Well, the Jailbreaking thing is REALLY confusing for like, new ipod touch owners, and has really no explaination, so that might be a great opportunity for them…. like me, even tho i am short of cash….

38. waterloo, February 11, 2008:

    Turns out Peter was right, (well done Peter). Apple had to charge. They didn’t have to charge $20 but by law they had to charge.

    Here is an article that explains why but first – no one has hacked 1.1.3 yet to get at the app’s? Unbelievable!

    http://www.macworld.com/article/131991/2008/02/ipodtouch.html?lsrc=mwweek

39. Ninjikiran, February 23, 2008:

    I was holding back on jailbreaking my ipod but… that was the last straw. I saw $20 for application iphone owners get for free and finally decided to jailbreak it to get them free.