Smartphone Thoughts: All That Apple Stuff Today...

Apple unleashed several new products today, and updates to older products, so I thought I'd jot down some thoughts and reactions about what I read about (this text is adapted from a series of emails I sent to the Mobius email list while discussing this).



Apple Charging $19.95 for the iPod Touch Software Update
Utterly ridiculous, but it's what Apple does - remember the $2 charge for 802.11n? Apple has the worst type of corporate arrogance imaginable, and almost everyone lets them get away with it. But that's also how they're able to create some pretty impressive products - so you take the bad with the good. Myself, I take none of it (for now - I continue to be tempted by some of their products).

iTunes Movie Rentals
It's so incredibly frustrating seeing Microsoft have all the same pieces - Xbox Live videos, Windows Mobile + Zune hardware - and not do a damn thing with it. Microsoft could have beaten Apple to the punch by more than a year, but there's probably still some committee arguing about it. The Apple solution looks slick, and the pricing looks a bit better than the Xbox Live pricing (I think - points confuse matters somewhat).