I'm not really defending it, mostly trying to answer the why, as it puzzled me as well. I've already been soured with Apple a bit on the whole iPhone price drop fiasco, and the situations like the enabler and iPod touch $20 update also make me wonder what is going on over there at times. I have to agree with Bruno that they probably could find another way to be complaint, and I hope they do. I just generally haven't found proof of pure foul malice on the side of Apple in regards to the iPod Touch and Airport update costs.

I think what would help is finding another example of this issue coming up for another company. After all, SOX has been in effect for over 5 years now, this situation can't be unique to only one company. Apple's time in the spotlight definitely helps searching for things like this, as lots of people have discussed it.