iPod touch fee could go bye-bye

I think a better question to ask is why wasnt A2DP in V2 of the 2G touch firmware? Boo Apple :p

Go Nicole!

While Apple now could choose to not charge without impacting the way sales are recogized, given the fact that this turkey has been flying without issue for a couple of years now I see little reason to change now. 20 million iPod Touch users today, $10 per upgrade and people have been willing to pay it for major upgrades. So, they are to stop taking in a potential of 200 million just because the option to do so has less implications? Gee....I think not.

You can dig up the court documents yourself if you have the time, but just for an idea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_litigation.

Microsoft does some things very well, namely server os's and visual studio are personal favorites. However, Microsoft has never been a real competitor in the media market; their approach to it has always been too hap-hazard.

Microsoft rarely does things in accordance with law.

To be honest, I'm a little tired of these articles. The fact is, Apple doesn't have to charge ANYTHING for its updates. Accounting never "forces" a company to charge anything. The accounting DOES force Apple to recognize revenue a certain way on its financial statements, but it does not force Apple to charge for updates.

In fact Lynn Turner, the former chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission said, "[generally accepted accounting principles] doesn't require you to charge squat."

She adds, "You charge whatever you want. GAAP doesn't even remotely address whether or not you charge for a significant functionality change. GAAP establishes what the proper accounting is, based on what you did or didn't charge for it."

Being an accountant myself I tend to agree with the former chief accountant of the SEC.

Sony may use a different interpretation of the accounting rules. They might run the risk that the SEC asks them for a financial restatement (i.e. they can't recognize the revenue of the PSP until , say, 2 years after the initial sale). But that's unlikely.

It really comes down to how anal your finance dept is.

I call BS on this article.

Sony has given firmware and software updates that are full of new features (web browser, rss, internet radio, so on and so forth) over the years for their PSP.

So instead of paying for a software update, you can just buy an entirely different device with single-digit marketshare (to be incredibly generous to ~1%). That's a real winner... Have you considered that Microsoft is bound by the same rules?

"Too little too late, Zune HD is here."

Actually, it isn't. Only the hardware is. If you want Facebook and Twitter, wait until the end of the year, same with games. If you want an app store, it could be a year away. Who in their right mind would buy a device only half done?