Apple's seeking a 10% kickback from accessories displaying the "Made for iPod" badge.

Next up... Apple wants 15% of all norebook carrying case sales made to owners of PowerBooks and iBooks.

All,

iPSP at www.kaisakura.com. Sony needs to get on the stick, they should license this action. Not like they've got any Mac-savvy coders, after all.

Matthew z.

Yes.. it's called brand recognition, you nimrod! But people should just give that away for free. Not like Apple earned it or anything.

The point is that Apple wants 10% of all accessories sold. The "Made for iPod" sham is how they intend on seizing monies from other companies.

If Apple wants to make money on accessories, they should bear the risk and manufacture/market/sell them themselves instead of trying to shake down (mafia-style) 3rd-party companies who have worked hard to bring their accessories to market.

Note that Apple has not forced any accessory maker to buy into this program--it's only if they want the additional branding. Theoretically, it would lead to higher sales of that company's products versus another's (that doesn't have a "Made for iPod" seal)--I would want my iPod accessories ok'd by the manufacturer of the iPod. Not to mention the fact that these accessory makers benefit greatly from the exposure that the iPod advertising campaigns net them... Apple should most certainly share the pain in addition to sharing the love.