Lesson Learned with the iPod Touch

So, I ranted here about how I wasn't going to get an iPod touch because Apple deliberately left off some key applications that are available on the iPhone. My desire for a new, cool gadget (plus a decent price at Amazon.com) got the better of me, and the day before Christmas, the UPS guy tossed a box containing my new 16GB toy at my front door. I figured I could live without the Mail application because using the "full-featured" Safari browser would allow me to get at my e-mail using AOL's web client. Or so I thought. Had I done a little bit of research, I would have learned that the AOL mail web client doesn't actually work on the touch. So even though the tiny web browser is pretty cool (I love the way it can rotate and re-size itself), this device turned out to be even less useful than I'd hoped. I have been enjoying the multimedia features, though, listening to music and podcasts, and watching video podcasts and movies that I ripped from DVDs or downloaded from Google Video. And I loaded some contact information in it (just to play around with the keyboard, really), along with pictures of some of my trips. But it's not much more than I was already able to do with the Dell Axim that I bought in 2005.

3 weeks later, I'm on Engadget.com reading up on Steve Job's keynote address at MacWorld. There's all this talk about new features for the iPhone. I start getting excited when I see the touch mentioned. "What can we do for the touch? We decided to add five apps to the touch. Mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather!" All right!!! Finally, this thing is looking useful again. And then I read his next statements: "Starting today we're going to build it into every new iPod touch, for existing iPod touch users it's going to be just a $20 upgrade." What??? You've got to be kidding me! I just spent a small fortune on this thing in late December, and you're telling me that 3 weeks later, I have to shell out another $20 just to get the device that I really wanted, that Apple should have been selling from the start, and that new buyers will get for no extra charge? What a crock!!!

I know, I've read all the discussions about how the early adopters should stop whining because they bought the touch knowing that there were no expectations that there would ever be new features; how Apple has to charge something for the upgrade because of some silly accounting rules (there's a long discussion here on Engadget about the possible legal reasons behind why Apple may have done this); how $20 is really not a lot of money to pay for these additional apps.

While I understand all that, I still can't help but feel badly about this. I'm partly mad at myself - I got caught up in the hype, bought something that wasn't quite what I wanted, and I'm now being extorted in order to get it to where I want it to be. However, I had also hoped that Apple would do the right thing. I should have known better - after all, they are a for-profit company, so of course they are going to do what they can to make a buck. At some point I'll probably get it over with and pay for the upgrade and be done with it. But I know I won't be making the same mistake again with the purchase of future Apple products. If I ever buy from them at all, it will be a product that has all of the features I want, and I will be patient and wait until after the product has been out for a while and the dust has been allowed to settle.