"The nominal distribution fee for the 802.11n software is required in order for Apple to comply with generally accepted accounting principles for revenue recognition, which generally require that we charge for significant feature enhancements, such as 802.11n, when added to previously purchased products,"

So, if this is the case, then they WILL have to charge for every enhancement they make to the software or hardware. So no more updates to iPods, or iPhones, or OSX or iLife or anything. Apple HAS to charge. Especially if someone is calling an upgrade to some wireless networking architecture "significant".

So anything that your hardware or software has the potential of doing, but doesn't do now, will no longer be added for free. Amazing that I don't see any other company charging for stuff because of this...

This is a money grab, pure and simple. Or an extrememly non-informed person pulling a reason out of her a**.

I used to enjoy your sarcasm, but you are talking out of your butt today.

A firmware upgrade that changes the functionality of hardware is different that a software feature.

Are you an accountant? Do you know that this reason is false?

Purchase Postponement will be the order of the day.

Don't get me wrong I love my new macbook pro but the thought that it can be made quite a bit better for just a dollar ninety nine when I paid nearly three grand for it in the first place is more than a little odd.

Not that I would ask them myself, but I foresee many sarcastic questions ahead for the poor hapless apple store personnel.

leaving-the-store-nearly-paralyzed with-hysterical-laughter kinds of questions. "See ya!" But the best part is that Steve Jobs will get these questions too. Ha ha!

Testudo -- how stupid can you be. If this was a money grab they would be charging more than $1.99. The $1.99 probably does not do much more than pay for their overhead in providing the download and the labor to update the store or however they will collect the money and pay the credit card fees. The given explanation is probably a reasonable one.

I have absolutely no problem with Apple trying to generate a little bit of revenue to offset the development and distribution costs of this technology, BUT, saying it is "due to generally accepted accounting principals" is a bullshit excuse. All that says clearly is that Apple is fast becoming just another sleazy corporation that can't be trusted to do business honestly. How sad. Who's the next to go to the dark side, Google?

This statement tells us nothing useful. It seems a fancy way of merely saying, "under standard accounting principles if you want to make money you have to collect money." It would have been useful to explain the referred to accounting principles.

With that said, it is only a $1.99. Apple was under no obligation to provide the update at all.



"The nominal distribution fee for the 802.11n software is required in order for Apple to comply with generally accepted accounting principles for revenue recognition, which generally require that we charge for significant feature enhancements, such as 802.11n, when added to previously purchased products"

“Who's the next to go to the dark side, Google”

Google went a long time ago... just ask those wanting freedom in China...

CVB

Wow, two pages of very well off, first-world, Apple using, starbucks sipping, gasoline guzzling bourgeoisie whiners, complaining about a $2 charge to change your a/b/g wifi card into an a/b/g/N card. Cost of average N card? $100. Cost of average drink at Starbucks? $3-$4, depending on location. Skip the coffee for one day and buy the frickin upgrade. Apple's not going to metamorphisize into M$ overnight by charging $2 for a wireless upgrade.

ZACKLY!

It'll probably included as part of Leopard? I think i can wait!

The accounting rules don't tell a company how to run a business. Apple is making a big excuse for making a precedent that makes them money, and don't expect it to be $1.99 next time.

If they weren't tryig to make money, number one it would be $.99 cents, not double that.

Secondly, it would be open source, they have no reason not to let someone else make an update for free and release that, there is no accounting rules that prevent that.

Finally, they could have set the value of this upgrade at nothing. They set it at 1.99, no one told them to do that.

The accounting rules may be real, but the decision to value this upgrade, is all Apple.

I can not believe that people are so cheap that they are complaining about paying $1.99. I bet these are the same people that spend it on a Big mac without thinking about it.

Stop being so CHEAP!

I used to enjoy your sarcasm, but you are talking out of your butt today.

A firmware upgrade that changes the functionality of hardware is different that a software feature.

Please explain how its different. Firmware IS software. It updates hardware to allow it to perform a new task that it was not performing before. A software feature updates the software to allow you to perform a new task that it was not performing before. And, BTW, both are also paid for products. There is NO difference.

Folks - think about this... Apple does NOT want to charge you for this upgrade any more than you want to pay for it. Based on the number of Mac's sold over the past few quarters with this hidden feature, they stand to collect no more than a few million in revenue if everyone who purchased the system collects it. A few million is not much money for a company like Apple compared to all of the negative press they stand to get over this.

On the other hand, if they give this feature away, they stand to get audited in the US and charged with incorrect accounting of the revenue they got when they sold the Macs. Technically, they would need to allocate some of the revenue from previous quarters in the quarter when they gave you the upgrade. That's a big accounting mess and one that could cause Apple far greater issues that charging the nominal fee.

I suspect that $1.99 is the lowest fee that the Apple lawyers thought would be interpreted as an "upgrade fee." Any less and the auditors could argue that they were trying to violate the spirit of the law.

Not sure about the legal impact but a nice gesture from Apple would be to offer two free iTunes songs as a "Thank you" for registering the upgrade.

At any rate, thanks the US accounting laws for this fee, not Apple. (By the way, those laws are there for a reason - this isn't meant to bash the law either...)

Does anybody even look at this stuff before it's posted?

I'm totally surprised that no one seems to have noted with elation that those of us with current Core 2 Duo machines will have enhanced functionality because of this update. That is awesome! An unexpected but welcome enhancement for a very key new wireless standard. $1.99 is inconsequential, and this is not a precedent for every upgrade Apple may release. Apple has built up a lot of good will and they are not about to squander it by fundamentally changing their style.