Apple to Charge for 802.11n Upgrades
- January 15th, 2007 - 10.10 pm UTC
- Apple Rumour
- Alex Brooks
Multiple rumour sites and sources are confirming that Apple plans to charge $4.99 to enable owners of 802.11n capable hardware to download a software patch to enable the feature.
iLounge has posted a report claiming to be the reason behind Apple’s decision to charge for the update or include it for those who purchase the new Airport Extreme.
the Core 2 Duo Macs weren’t advertised as 802.11n-ready, and a little law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act supposedly prohibits Apple from giving away an unadvertised new feature for one of its products.
Later adding:
Because of the Act, the company believes that if it sells a product, then later adds a feature to that product, it can be held liable for improper accounting if it recognizes revenue from the product at the time of sale, given that it hasn’t finished delivering the product at that point.
Comments
Rick Connolly 17th January 2007, 00.24 am
Dragging out Sar-box as an excuse to charge $5.00 for an upgrade is bogosity in it’s fullest. All Apple Inc would need to do is encourage everyone to write to their congresscritter about stifling innovation – congress is already getting a lot of heat over the bungled implementatin of Sar-box.
Plus – if this is just a software update – well, Apple did that with the iPod when they released a US software update with volume limiting. That capability was available (mandated in parts of the EU) but never switched on for US users.