Up until this point any major update for an iPod Touch would cost you a fee of about 10 dollars. At the same time the same software for an iPhone would be free. The release of the iPad brings the question of if Apple will charge per upgrade or will it be free. Today they have clarified this curiosity that resides with many of us by way of their latest iPad SDK or software development kit. With the release of the iPad 3.2 SDK came a license agreement that held the information about what fees may be involved with upgrading the iPad.
Apple will provide you any iPad OS software updates that it may release from time to time, up to and including the next major iPad OS software release following the version of iPad OS software that originally shipped from Apple on your iPad, for free. For example, if your iPad originally shipped with iPad 3.x software, Apple would provide you with any iPad OS software updates it might release up to and including the iPad 4.x software release. Such updates and releases may not necessarily include all of the new software features that Apple releases for newer iPad models.
While not free forever, the iPad updates will be free for some time in the future. So this is a somewhat in between solution as to what we had before, but at least there will be no extra money needed for a little while.
