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Comment by gojomo | Hacker News Reader

I wonder: will iPad owners have to pay for OS updates?

For the iPhone, their price has been considered-included, as an accounting matter, in the ongoing revenue Apple shares from the mobile operators. But, for the iPod Touch, upgrade fees have applied to get new features -- with the stated rationale being accounting requirements.

The iPad(Wifi only) is clearly more like an iPod Touch. But even the iPad(Wifi+3G), with no long-term contracts and buy-as-you-need-it service, may not have any ongoing Apple revenue share.

All iPad owners may be on the hook for a fee when iPhoneOS4.0 arrives.

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The accounting rules were changed after lobbying by Apple and other corps. See http://www.9to5mac.com/FASB-accounting-change-iPhone-AppleTV. More info at Ars: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/09/accounting-rules-c...

Hopefully this should mean free updates.

The iPad software EULA actually mentions this. http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/30/apple-to-charge-for-future-ip...

From that, it sounds like they will be charging for updates every two major versions, so not as often as the iPod touch.

I can't quite decide how to interpret that myself. (I admit I never considered they might be going to an every-other policy.) My theories were:

Pessimistic -- They knew 4.0 was right around the corner and that charging people $20 or so for 4.0 would go over like a turd in the punchbowl. So they're covering 4.0 but it'll be back to business-as-usual with 5.0.

Optimistic -- They're trying out not-charging for major releases but are reserving the right to change their minds again.

Given that iPad app pricing has been substantially higher than it is for the iPhone, I can't imagine too many iPad buyers balking at a reasonable OS upgrade fee. Here I define "reasonable" loosely as "cheaper than a desktop OS upgrade", which would put the price cap somewhere in the $20-25 range.

You bought a minimum $500 device and you're going to complain about a nominal upgrade fee? Why do people bitch about this? You have even less excuse if you're using a 3G version which costs $700 and charges you a min of $15 a month (assuming you use the 3G).

Unfortunately you can use the same logic to argue the opposite point:

You just sold someone a minimum $500 device and you're going to charge a nominal upgrade fee on top of it? Why do companies do that?

  Why do companies do that?

It has something to do with some weird accounting requirements/rules.

I see no complaining or bitching going on in the parent comment. Would you point it out, please?

http://www.tuaw.com/2010/03/30/apple-to-charge-for-future-ip...

>The common interpretation is that the next major OS update (iPad 4.0) will be available to iPad owners for free, but that Apple reserves the right to charge for iPad 5.0 and beyond.

There was an article about that somewhere (can't find it right now) where they say that according to the EULA the 4.x upgrades are included in the iPad price.

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