Previously, consumers have been able to make an unlimited number of purchases without entering a password for 15 minutes after a change was made using a password. Parents complained that this policy made it easy for their children to incur huge iTunes charges without understanding that they were spending money or asking for parental permission.
Apple told The Washington Post that it had updated its newly released iOS 4.3 with a feature that eliminates this 15-minute window and requires a password with every download.
This change will surely prevent some unexpected bills, but it does nothing to address the larger question of whether it's appropriate to market expensive virtual goods within games intended for young children in the first place. For example, $99.00 for a wagon of smurfberries, seems a bit outside of most children's means.
The FTC said in February that it would review the marketing and delivery practices of such mobile applications.