Jan 17
Users wanting to activate 802.11n technology in their Macs will have to fork out $4.99 for an update patch or purchase the new Airport Extreme 802.11n which will include the patch. But don’t worry, it’ll probably be available at all the *usual places* soon after. Reasons behind the move and such a small fee are not necessarily clear at the moment. So $179.99 or $4.99… or free..
January 18th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Two points:
1) Only certain new Macs have the hardware that can do 802.11n and could be enabled by this updater. Not just any machine with Airport Extreme card can be upgraded to 802.11n.
2) Apple wanted to give this updater away for free, but there is a legal issue around a US policy known as Sarbanes Oxley, such that they can’t release a product and realise revenue on it, if the complete functionality set for the device is not enabled at the point of sale. This forces Apple to sell the updater as a new product to realise revenue for itself. (I’m no legal expert - but this is what I’ve picked up from iLounge:
http://backstage.ilounge.com/index.php/backstage/comments/oh-about-that-80211n-card-in-your-c2d-mac/)