Stevenote 2008: No Upgrade for iPhone, New Apps for iPod Touch

Pete Mortensen ()

Steve Jobs’s Macworld keynote is underway, and the most significant announcement thus far is what he hasn’t announced: Any upgrade to the iPhone. Though offering a new version of Google Maps for the device that provides GPS-like functionality (though nowhere near as accurate; Steve says it works “pretty doggone good.”).

That said, the iPod touch will be brought up to par with the iPhone in terms of available applications. For a $20 download on iTunes, anyone can now load Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes and Weather on their Touch. I don’t like the tendency as far as the potential prices for third-party apps, but let’s hope for the best.

Liveblogging the 2008 Macworld Steve Jobs Keynote | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

Blogged with Flock

Tags:

DON'T MISS
Watch the WWDC 2007 Stevenote

7 comments »

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by .

Posted in Steve Jobs |

  • http://www.naquada.co.uk naquada

    itunes just picked up my iphone 1.1.3 update :) along with itunes, frontrow, quicktime and imoive updates through apple updater :)

  • naf

    Apple did it again! They always screw the early adopters, they obviously left out the applications in the ipod touch before X’mas so to boast the sales of iphone! But charging applications like that they can offer for free in the first place and just to make a few bucks?! Apple is going lower and lower.

    First, the iphone early adopters and now ipod touch. Never buy Apple product when they are newly release, it’s not worth to be lab white mice.

  • AlexK

    $5 per app is about the same as iPod games cost. So, really not much compared to what you have to pay for, say, Windows Mobile applications, there are mail apps going for $20 and up. Alone.

    That the update does cost anything at all is most likely to Apple accounting it at the point of sale, as opposed to Apple TV and iPhone where they said they’ll be accounting them over 24 months to provide free updates (Sarbanes-Oxley), what even most analysts seem to have forgotten now. There already is a “rip-off” uproar everywhere (ars, tuaw..) Funny how long human memory lasts :-)

    Ciao, Alex

    ps. btw, thanks for the nice site

  • dwm

    $20 for an upgrade? ATV is free? Byte me Apple. :-p

  • Steve

    The point is why need to pay $20 for a bunch of softwares that comes FREE the new Ipod touch.

  • http://www.closetcase.co.uk stuart

    so Apple don’t like people jailbreaking their iphone/ipod touch’s… so they release a new update that will hopefully stop people from doing so for another 3 days until its cracked again, and oh… wait a minute… charge you $20 for the privilege!??? Thanks to Jailbreak and install app I already have maps, weather, notes, and mail on my ipod touch (stocks suck, so didn’t bother with that one) – so where is the incentive to officially upgrade to something I can have for free?

    Apple really know how to reward their customers don’t they! Steve Jobs is a money grabbing asshole for allowing such a decision!

  • http://clicknathan.com Nathan

    I think that title is completely misleading. I’m assuming you mean “no hardware upgrade for iphone”, ie, there’s not going to be a new one. If so, why do people want a new iPhone vs. having Apple continue to give us these free feature additions?

    If you didn’t mean that, then you’re just mistaken as the new updates make this phone soooo much better.

    And as for those who are made about having to pay for upgrades, deal with it. You purchased the thing and you knew what it came with, why are you angry that you now have the ability to make it cooler, if you want to?

    Finally, the GPS-like features work amazingly well! Do you really need to know your exact latitude and longitude? I’ve tried it around Pittsburgh and it typically points directly above my head, actually so far every time it has.