Apple has indicated that SOX is the reason they do this nominal fee stuff in the past. Here's one example from 2007: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/01

Apple has indicated that SOX is the reason they do this nominal fee stuff in the past. Here's one example from 2007: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/01/15/apple_to_impose_80211n_unlocking_fee_on_intel_mac_owners.html http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/01/15/apple_to_impos... Here's another more recent, longer in-depth article: http://blog.phirephoenix.com/1463/hey-apple-stop-hiding-behind-sarbanes-oxley/ http://blog.phirephoenix.com/1463/hey-apple-stop-hiding-behi...