Apple to slug users for 802.11n drivers

Tim Gaden
16 January 2007, 2:11 AM


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Apple will charge its customers $US4.99 ($6.36) in order to unlock support for the new 802.11n wireless protocol which is already built-in but hidden in newest Macs.


Apple will charge its customers US$ 4.99 ($6.36) in order to "unlock" support for the new 802.11n wireless protocol which is already built-in but disabled in most new Intel-based Macs.

Mac owners will want to enable this hidden feature to get the most out of Apple's new AirPort Extreme, which was launched (to less fanfare than some other products) at MacWorld San Francisco.

New look: the new Airport Extreme's rear planeNew look: the new Airport Extreme's rear plane

In the new model, the modem is gone. It is now a router only, but it comes with the next leap in wireless technology, the 802.11n protocol, which promises to be faster, bigger and wider than the preceeding 802.11a/b/g standards.

As Apple explains on its web site:

"Among its key innovations, 802.11n adds technology called multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), a signal processing and smart antenna technique for transmitting multiple data streams through multiple antennas. The result? Up to five times the performance and up to twice the range compared to the earlier 802.11g standard."

Many new Macs already have support for this new protocol:

  • iMac with Intel Core 2 Duo (except 17-inch, 1.83GHz iMac)
  • MacBook with Intel Core 2 Duo
  • MacBook Pro with Intel Core 2 Duo
  • Mac Pro with AirPort Extreme card option

However, the feature needs to be brought to life with special "enabler" software.

Why should Mac users get charged for the privilege of unlocking what's already in their Macs?

We asked Apple Australia and we'll let you know when we hear back.

Misleading advertising?
Apple is being a bit naughty with the advertising of the new Airport Extreme, which is being promoted as providing "802.11n" networking. It is not, in fact, 802.11n, but 802.11 "draft n". The actual 802.11n standard hasn't yet been ratified and won't be finished until some time in 2008.

Apple does recognise this fact at the bottom of its main Airport Extreme page in greyed-out fine print, but all the rest of the text on the page simply refers to "802.11n".

In Australia, at least, the regulator in charge of advertising standards, the ACCC, advises that businesses wanting to avoid charges of misleading advertising should focus on the 'overall impression' any advertisement gives to a consumer. The ACCC's guide to advertising standards specifically notes that fine print must not contradict what is said in the main part of an ad.

We can't help thinking that Apple shouldn't be claiming the Airport Extreme offers "802.11n" in the main copy of the ad and "802.11 draft n" in the fine print.


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julzzw:

I'm sure that some hackers are already working on a hack to get this functionality free of charge. After all, they just have to enable the Wireless N standard part of the drivers. It already there, its just a matter of finding it...

29 February 2008, 8:29 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Anonymous:

I understand this is a blog and you can write about your thoughts and feelings all you want. But you also belong to a magazine that should give an unbiased view.

That said on Apples 802.11n page it writes in the first paragraph and is the first sentence.

"These new products use AirPort Extreme wireless technology that’s based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification".

http://www.apple.com/au/wireless/80211/

Also the US has a law called the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which prohibits US companies from giving away an unadvertised new features of an already sold product without enduring some onerous accounting measures.

That means Apple must charge a sum to enable 802.11n draft.

29 February 2008, 8:29 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Anonymous:

On the AU Apple site it says the "Enabler" is included in the box:


"What's in the Box

* AirPort Extreme Base Station
* CD with AirPort Utility (Mac and Windows), 802.11n Enabler for Core 2 Duo Macintosh computers, Bonjour for Windows
* Printed and electronic documentation"



29 February 2008, 8:36 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Dan Warne:

Tim was talking about the cost to people who have an 802.11n capable Mac but don't want to buy an Airport Extreme 802.11n router (for example, they might have a compatible draft-N router from another manufacturer.) For those people, Apple is going to be charging $US4.95 just for the software to unlock the capability on their Mac.

29 February 2008, 8:36 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

McBanjo:

"Why should Mac users get charged for the privilege of unlocking what's already in their Macs?"

Because of Apple's accounting procedures, Apple has already received the revenue for the product which it had not yet delivered. So it can be caught for not following proper accounting procedures.

I say it's just an excuse though and only liable in the US under their "Sarbanes-Oxley Act."

29 February 2008, 8:29 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

David Flynn:

There's an excellent in-depth explanation of the reasoning behind Apple's decision now up at news.com. As mentioned here, it's to do with US accounting rules but also tied in with how Apple wold have to count or defer revenue from its n-ready Macs if it made the upgrade free.



29 February 2008, 8:36 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

APC administrator:

I wonder if the Australian subsidiary of Apple is required to charge it, though. Also, I wonder why it needed to be $US1.99 and not $US0.20. 

i also wonder if Apple will make it exceptionally easy to work around the payment part -- e.g. perhaps people who do pay will get a direct download URL that will be exceptionally easy to repost in online forums etc :-)

Incidentally, anyone know which Draft-N chipset Apple uses? It'd be important to know that if one wanted to use a non-Apple router -- e.g. an integrated ADSL2+ modem/router with 802.11n.



29 February 2008, 8:36 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

David Flynn:

Yeah, the whole pricing strategy was something I found intriguing - it's so low that is it almost just a peppercorn amount for 'cost recovery' for Apple having to bother with doing ecommerce transactions, when I'm sure they would have much rather just given it away!

Of course, they have enough goodwill that few people will beef about $2 for faster wireless, and even if the drivers very quickly hit the BitTorrent circuit (and I expect they will!), or if the download URL is static and available to anyone, will Apple really care? Nah! Reckon they'll just say "Hey, we did the right thing by our accountants etc!" and smile!

Anyway, the question "Will Aussies be charged for the Draft N upgrade" is interesting and worth looking into! 

As to the type of chips, my info is that both Atheros and Broadcom chips can be found in the 11n-ready Macs (the Atheros ones often identify themselves as being specifically a D-Link 'RangeBooster'). Hopefully there's some utility out there which can identify which specific chipset is in one's own Mac...



29 February 2008, 8:36 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Robert Talbot:

"Why should Mac users get charged for the privilege of unlocking what's already in their Macs?"

When I bought my new Intel based Mac I knew it had 'airport' built in, but it was widely known and advertised as 802.11g, not 802.11n or any other draft specification. It was a pleasent surprise to know that the actually hardware was infact capable of more.

Now that Apple have or are about to release drivers for what is a nominal cost, what right do people have to complain. You are getting cutting edge technology with minimal effort (no physical update) and cost. I can only imagine the noise of the Mac community should Apple have shipped these machines with drivers that didn't conform to those draft standards then expected Apple to provide a fix and technical support for them or better yet, used old 802.11g only components.

Where would be then?

29 February 2008, 8:29 PM (3 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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