ThinkingSkull.com

I own an iPod Touch, specifically the 16GB model. No, I didn’t buy it ($400 is expensive for a multimedia toy when cheaper, easier to replace alternatives are available) but I won one at my company Christmas party (Christmas, not “holiday.”) To make a long story short, there’s a feature upgrade available from Apple.com as of yesterday, but they want $20 to provide features the thing should have anyway.

An email client? Google.com is two touches away. So is Google maps. Widgets are okay, but there aren’t any must-have widgets listed (weather? Two touches to weather.com.) So other than the ability to actually add additional functionality right on the iPod Touch screen instead of clicking a Safari bookmark, I have to pay an additional $20 bucks? The last time this happened, Apple lowered the price of their iPhone by $200 and gave credits back to all the poor suckers who didn’t wait.

Lessons learned: if I (and everyone else) waits and complains long enough, you’ll give us the upgrade for the unit you’ve already made money on. Oh, and last time I checked, I got all my operating system upgrades free for Windows XP.

We’re waiting, Steve… have your iPhone call our iTouch and we’ll do lunch (but only when it’s free).

UPDATE: My little brother says I should bite the bullet and plunk down my $20 because it’s worth it and because it’ll actually work (unlike, say, shareware from a Palm). He does have a point…