Announced at Macworld this morning, the native applications present on the iPhone but missing from the iPod Touch (Mail, Maps, Weather, Notes and Stocks) are now officially available on the iPod Touch. The catch:

* Existing iPod Touch owners who want these apps need to pay $27.99
* Anybody who buys an iPod Touch from here on gets the apps included free
* Plus - and here's the stinger that hasn't happened in the US - the retail price for the 8GB model has dropped from $479 to $449.

So, in summary:

* Early adopters pay $479 + $27.99
* New owners pay $449

This is a real kick in the guts to existing owners. Think of all those who have just had one for Xmas, or parents who have shelled out for one for the kids, and now they will need to shell out another $27.99.

On the plus side, this makes the iPod Touch a killer device, rivalling many full-blown PDAs out there. What will be interesting to see, though, is whether this waters down the desire for the iPhone in countries where this device hasn't been released yet.

Steve