Apple has cut the price for iPod touch owners to update their devices' software from version 2.x to 3.x. It now costs $4.95 rather than the previous price of $9.95.
That means iPod touch users who hadn't already upgraded their device to the iPhone 3.0 software will be able to pay the cheaper price to go straight to iPhone 3.1. The upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1 remains free.
Does this really matter? In a word, yes. Earlier this year, Apple faced criticism over its policy of charging iPod touch owners nearly $10 to get the latest software, when the update was free for iPhone owners.
In June, mobile advertising firm AdMob revealed that just 1% of the iPod touch users accessing its ad network had upgraded to the 3.0 software, compared to 44% of iPhone users.
With 20 million iPod touches having been sold, it's in Apple's interests - not to mention app developers' - to get as many of them to upgrade to the latest software as possible. Hence, presumably, this new price cut.