'Cripplewaring' iPod Touch?


It wouldn't be the first time Apple has deleted features from products in order to make the premium version a stronger value proposition. In this case, Apple appears to have put the rabbit back into the hat by removing iPod Touch's ability to enter calendar events.

As Gizmodo notes, Apple has cut the phrase 'enter calendar events' from its iPod Touch advertising copy (The Register also ponders this move), although the phrase persists on Cupertino's international iPod Touch advertising material.

iPod Touch (and perhaps other models?) also lost BlueTooth functionality at five minutes to midnight. It's reasonable to save a buck per unit by cutting back on hardware; it's quite another to put blocks on software.

Take the Blue & White G3 ROM block that prevented customers from upgrading to G4s (so they'd buy a Power Mac G4, ultimately). Or, way, way back - stopping LC and LCII owners from upgrading beyond 10MB of RAM (even if 12MB was installed). Not recognized. The idea, of course, was to stop Mac IIci/si and Centris/Quadra sales from being cannibalized.

A hack will probably restore the calendar event input functionality. But, frankly, is such a minor feature worth blocking when all it does is generate negative media?