How long do you expect each gen to keep getting updates?

Historical data indicates that the iPad 1 will not be getting iOS 6 as it shipped with 3.2.

I would say that the iPhone and iPad as the technology increases and gets better, will begin to see a longer update life. I do believe that there will obviously be certain features that won't bless the older devices.

The iPad 1 was released on iOS 3, however because it utilizes the A4 processor, I believe that it will be updated to iOS 6. I also believe that the iPad 2 will see more updates then any other device before, it is utilizing the A5 and besides the graphics change in the A5X the New iPad is virtually running on the same processor. What I am trying to say is, when the software becomes to much for the iPad 2 to handle in essence it will become to hard for the New iPad to handle. The bump in RAM does help to add the certain tasks however I would expect the iPad 2 to continue to receive updates until and potentially past iOS 8. The iPhone 3GS is still receiving updates, and because it is still being sold, I believe that Apple as plans to add support for it in iOS 6.

I wonder how much more life the iPad 1 has with IOS updates. It seems to already be sputtering and on it's last legs with IO 5.1. My iPad 1 Safari crashes all the time with the small amount of memory and the demands of the latest OS software.