Bad Apple: Charging for iPod Touch Firmware Updates

Earlier this week at MacWorld, Apple release a software update for the iPod Touch, providing some new features in addition to a few applications previously only available on the iPhone (such as Weather, Stocks, Notes, and Mail). This is all great, however, except for the fact that Apple decided to charge $20 for it. Here is just another example of the greedy, anti-consumer “Bad Apple” trend that has emerged in the last year or so. All I can say is that I hope this isn’t a trend that is reflected when it comes to future iPhone updates and 3rd-party applications developed with the upcoming iPhone SDK.Here are some additional recent examples of the greedy Bad Apple trend:

• iPhone-AT&T exclusivity: Giving consumers no choice, and locking them into a two year plan, with no hardware subsidies and no unlocks so Apple can receive hundreds of dollars in payback from AT&T. Win Apple, loose Consumer.
  
• iPhone Price Drop: less than two months after release, dropping the price and screwing all of their loyal early adopters
  
• iPod Game Re-buy: Releasing a software update on new iPods, requiring all owners of any iPod games to re-buy them if they want to continue using their purchases. Not good Apple, not good!
  
• Education Discount Reduction: In the past two years, Apple has eliminated any educational discounts on iPods and many accessories, and greatly reduced discounts on Mac hardware (from a couple hundred dollars to around $100) and on software (OS X costing $69.99 versus $100). Does Apple even care about me as a customer anymore? It would appear not.
  
• Update: Apple and AT&T requiring a contract extension to upgrade and activate a new 16GB iPhone. AT&T says a new contract will be signed, but should be backdated to the date of your original contract. Sounds fishy and very anti-consumer to me! A sign of things to come when the 3G iPhone gets released? Direct quote from iPhone Alley below:

"Mark Siegel, Executive Director of Media and Analyst Relations with AT&T, has informed iLounge in an email that , “If you upgrade from an 8 to a 16 GB iPhone, you sign a new contract. However, we automatically backdate it to the starting point of your contract on the 8 GB phone.” He added that the company “will make every effort to ensure that our reps provide customers with the correct information.”