Macworld.ars: iPod touch users to pay $20 for iPhone applications
Within thirty minutes of purchasing my original iPod touch, I had it jailbroken and installed those iPhone applications that Apple had purposefully left out. Those include Google Maps, MobileMail, Stocks, Weather, and Notes.
Context & Ripple Effects
The iPod touch launched in September 2007 without the iPhone's built-in applications — Google Maps, MobileMail, Stocks, Weather, Notes — a gap reviewers flagged from day one (iPod touch). Within weeks the jailbreak scene had closed it: by October, point-and-click tools existed to sideload exactly those apps (two jailbreak GUIs).
At today's Macworld keynote, alongside the MacBook Air and iTunes Movie Rentals, Apple announced the 1.1.3 update makes those same applications available to iPod touch owners for $20. Apple is effectively converting its most visible jailbreak driver into a paid product — the question the newsroom will ask is why the software costs extra on hardware already sold.
First-order effects
- iPod touch buyers who jailbroke their devices to get Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes can now get the identical feature set through a supported $20 update — Apple monetizing applications it omitted at launch.
Second-order effects
- A $20 price gives the jailbreak community a concrete selling point against paying up, so Apple's own update becomes a test of whether convenience beats free on its own hardware.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Apple is establishing post-purchase feature unlocks as a recurring revenue line and using software tiers to differentiate otherwise-similar devices like the iPhone and iPod touch.
The trend: Apple is moving from shipping complete devices to charging for software unlocks after purchase, with jailbreaking positioned as the unpaid alternative.