18 March 2009

2nd Class Citizens

I'm looking forward to the new iPhone/iPod Touch OS (3.0) and am glad that my Touch will support it. (See officially here and unofficially here.) Some highlights for me are landscape keyboard support across all apps, more sophisticated app support and in-app purchases, and most especially, greatly enhanced YouTube support. I love YouTube and love using it on my Touch, but the current support for it blows.

But while iPhone owners get this update for free, Touch owners will have to shell out $9.95. Why? Because there are competitors to the iPhone but not to the Touch. And trust me, we Touch owners have no practical choice but to upgrade. All apps from here on out will be coded with the OS 3.0 SDK. Do not upgrade, and your Touch is hastening towards obsolescence. Isn't it great that now even our music players are on the software upgrade extortion merry-go-round? You just gotta love being the willing victim of a monopoly.

Update: DailyTech just noted that Apple has fessed up that the Touch does indeed contains a bluetooth chip (Apple in the past denied it). It was used originally for its lame Nike+ service. BUT, if you want to use it for bluetooth headphones, syncs, remotes, etc., you will, no surprise, have to cough up 10 clams for the OS upgrade. Grrrr.

1 comment:

Mister Fweem said...

Aw crap. I'm tired of companies nickel-and-diming me! Steve Jobs is a booger-butt.