Original iPhone Will Soon Be 'Obsolete' In Apple Retail Stores

[AtariMac]

My 13 year old son has my 2007 iPhone. Put it on T-Mobile pay by the day as he only uses it once or twice a week.

People are still using these things.

 

[gri]

I gave mine to my mother, who still uses it around the house as an extra internet access device. I got it in the first half hour or so of sales on opening day and it still works fine.

Fun to think back how wildly new and futuristic it seemed at the time and the comments I overheard people making to each other about it when I first had it out in public.

I still remember saying to my brother when Apple first announced the iPhone that's what every cell phone would look like in the future and now they do. I think it will be a long time until we see another cell phone that revolutionary again.

I still remember how cool it was that it loaded the New York Times page - while going from my house to the tram (a 5 minute walk). Now I am annoyed if it takes a few seconds.

 

[acslater017]

I have the original iPhone which I purchased the day after launch in the UK back in November 2007.
...
When I first bought the phone I said I would use it until it broke, was lost, or the battery life became so bad that it's unusable. It isn't that time yet though probably soon it will be. I've watched the release of every new iPhone since, where I've been pretty excited to see it but decided not to buy as it either wasn't a big enough change (the earlier models) or was out of my budget especially as my phone still works (newer models).

Good for you that you're content. But I really don't understand it. There have been wonderful advances man!
-LTE downloads are ridiculously fast (maybe not as prevalent in UK as US)
-The 4" Retina display is sharp, vibrant, and accurate
-Camera is on-par with point-and-shoot, with HD stabilized video
-Processors are several times faster; Safari much less refreshing
-stronger Gorilla glass and camera lens materials
-FaceTime and front-facing camera.
-Not to mention iOS 4, 5, and 6!

Save up a little and get a new one!

 

[cmwade77]

Will it go to Obsolete or Vintage? It appears that it must go to Vintage first, which the law appears to required it to be able to be serviced in California (or anywhere, if it was purchased in California) until it moves into the Obsolete category.

 

[pirg]

That's not a direct or fair comparison. I get faster 3G connectivity using the '3' network in the UK than some of my friends do using EE's 4G service!

I know I was being facetious and a little hyperbolic. Sure the original iPhone could have used 3g but it wasn't "utterly gimped" because of that. It was a great phone and since ppl still seem to use it, it is still a great phone

 

[x86isslow]

If your phone dies, you could still get a third party to install a new battery in it. This just means Apple won't do any repairs on it.

I am. 8GB iPhone 1.
So I am in a little pickle over this. But if the phone dies I'll probably just buy a cheap 4S or something. I don't want to cause I hate to replace phones that are still working. But I guess I must.

 

[SmileyBlast!]

I want one. It looks and feels so nice.

I'm sure Samsung is still making clones of it.

 

[LaredoHK]

High Technology!

Obsolete? But it has high technology!

 

[pacfolly]

Planned Obsolescence

Talk about planned obsolescence. I didn't realize that Apple actually considers products obsolete after they are just a few years old, making them ineligible for service or repair.

I know Apple definitely wants to make you feel like their products are obsolete after only a couple of years, but making you replace your "vintage" machine instead of offering you the option to fix it is something else entirely, so I hope my soon-to-be-vintage iMac holds up once it becomes "obsolete"

 

[Dark Dragoon]

Good for you that you're content. But I really don't understand it. There have been wonderful advances man!
-LTE downloads are ridiculously fast (maybe not as prevalent in UK as US)
-The 4" Retina display is sharp, vibrant, and accurate
-Camera is on-par with point-and-shoot, with HD stabilized video
-Processors are several times faster; Safari much less refreshing
-stronger Gorilla glass and camera lens materials
-FaceTime and front-facing camera.
-Not to mention iOS 4, 5, and 6!

Save up a little and get a new one!

I know I'm just making excuses, but...

- There's no LTE, or even decent 3G coverage around here. I primarily use it on WiFi so the network speed isn't much of an issue.
- Display wise, yeah the new displays are a lot nicer. Though for the moment the old display is fine for making phone calls, texting, checking emails and listening to music and podcasts. Which is the main tasks the phone gets used for nowadays. Along with the occasional game, video and looking things up online.
- I never really use a camera much.
- Yeah the processors slow, not to mention the low amount of RAM. But with the older apps this isn't really a problem.
I'm also a patient person.
- It's lasted almost 6 years as it is, no scratches at all on the screen or camera lens. As a bonus the back is made of metal and has taken a good few hits with only one small dent. I'm not sure the glass back on the new ones is as durable.
- Facetime and a front facing camera would be nice though probably not all that useful to me at the moment.
- iOS 4, 5 and 6 are good. I think the main thing I miss is Airplay after using iOS 6 on an iPod Touch.

The changes which are more important to me, is the dropping of the various sync services such as MobileMe, and support for iCloud. Along with the lack of apps and compatible app updates. So simple things like train timetable apps, Netflix, iPlayer etc...


The way I see it is that the iPhone 2G at-least for me was revolutionary, I went from carrying a Nokia N90 which had awful app support, crashed regularly and was a general pain so it was used only for phone calls and texts. Palm LifeDrive which held all the apps and synced things like the Calendar, ToDo's etc... and an iPod 5G 30GB/Shuffle 2G. The iPhone 2G replaced all of those and worked a whole lot better. Of-course it became even better over time as Apple added in things like Apps, copy and paste etc...

The versions of the iPhone that have been released since have felt to me more like an evolution. They have nice features and improvements but none of the killer features and hardware improvements have really caught my eye enough to make me go out and buy one.


I certainly wasn't expecting to be using the same phone after all this time though, when I bought the iPhone 2G I was hoping to get two years of use out of it, three if I was lucky. My philosophy nowadays is to buy something decent and then use it until it's no longer usable, I have on many occasions considered upgrading but just couldn't justify the cost versus benefits.


Realistically, I expect I will get a new phone near the end of this year or early next year. Unless something happens to the 2G before that.

 

[braddick]

Plus, come on. You've got to admit: www.jailbreakme.com and within moments you're jailbroken. No muss, no fuss.

 

[Starflyer]

Woah.

I still remember that warm June day. It was truly magical. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE wanted one of those phones. Something like 75% of all Americans new the iPhones release date - andApple had a $0 marketing budget for it.

RIP little guy.

I will always remember thanks to this poster that has been hanging for a few years.

 

[Mike Valmike]

I guess my sealed iPhone 1 is going to go up in value. Also have everyone sealed since?

Not smart. The battery will eventually rot and cause a poisonous, caustic mess in that box. Sell while you can.

 

[JGowan]

It was such an awesome phone for its time. Truly a revolutionary product. I miss Steve Jobs.

Agreed to this

Best product reveal EVER! Steve was simply brilliant that day!

 

[Parasprite]

Both IBM & Lenovo carry parts.

I've been using ThinkPads right out of college, as well PowerBooks concurrently then, as well as ThinkPads & MBP's now. I upgrade at each refresh so, no I don't use the 700c on a regular basis, but I do keep it in working order just for fun since it was my first, much like I keep my first PowerBook 170 in working order.

I might have had some more luck keeping computers for long periods of time if I hadn't been the kind of person to try to build my own super-fast computer with blue LEDs cool and overclocked until it eventually took the motherboard and power supply out with it, but I'm better now.

Interesting to know, thanks for that!

 

[GoCubsGo]

"But I'm still using an original iPhone..." - no one sane in 2012-2013.

My buddy used his until he upgraded to the 5 2 months ago.

 

[bushido]

i bought one on some hipster market unboxed a while ago. im sure itll sell well in the future considering it was obly released in a handful of countries and well it was the first of its kind

 

[palmerc2]

My mid-2007 iMac is considered vintage? I knew it was time to upgrade but damn!

 

[rjohnstone]

I still have my original 8GB iPhone. I also still have a 16GB 3GS and a 16GB iPhone 4.
All in perfect working order.
My oldest daughter uses the 4 on T-Mobile and the other two are basically just used as iPods.
Battery on the original iPhone still lasts about 5-6 days in airplane mode.
Not bad for a 5 1/2 year old battery.

 

[jefbond]

Obsolete vs Vintage

Vintage = 5 years since discontinue date
Obsolete = 7 years since discontinue date

And products are determined to be vintage or obsolete I believe twice per year.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1752

 

[Ubele]

This phone was introduced in 2007. It's only just now that Apple considers the phone obsolete. That's 6 years. Perfectly reasonable in my opinion. Seriously though, I've never heard a more entitled post. Apple doesn't owe you anything. They sell products. If you want the product, you buy it. If you don't like how long they'll service their products, then don't buy it. Voting with your wallet hurts one business, while "consumer protection laws" tend to hurt everyone, unintended consequences abound.

You also have to realize that not everyone wants to pay for 10 years of service. People who buy dumb phones that just sit in their pocket all day, likely don't care too much if they have to buy a new one, since the old one was dirt cheap anyway. If the business was forced to provide 10 years of service for every phone, then (and here we get back to unintended consequences) the price of the phone would go up needlessly. Consumers are plenty smart enough to decide if the phone and the service provided by the company is adequate for their needs. If it's not, then it's not. The end.

I think that every company should be forced to support every product it makes forever, with possible exceptions for difficulties caused by global apocalypse. After all, I'm still able to get replacement beads for my third-century-A.D. Xingbao Counting Tiger abacus. I haven't yet felt the need to upgrade to one of those new electronic calculators.

 

[SPUY767]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


The original iPhone will soon be considered obsolete in Apple Retail Stores according to an internal Apple document shared by 9to5Mac. Products considered 'obsolete' are ineligible for service parts and documentation at retail stores and cannot be repaired at mail-in AppleCare Repair Centers.

Apple typically makes products 'obsolete' or 'vintage' five years after they are discontinued, though there are some exceptions where required by law. The original iPhone went on sale in June 2007 and was discontinued in July 2008 when the iPhone 3G was released.

Image​

Other Apple products that will be considered 'vintage' as of June 11, 2013 include the mid-2007 models of the iMac, the late 2006 model Xserve, and the original Mac Pro. 9to5Mac has the list of newly minted vintage and obsolete products, while Apple maintains a list of all products named vintage or obsolete going back to the Apple II.

Article Link: Original iPhone Will Soon Be 'Obsolete' In Apple Retail Stores

It's better than having a 1 year old Android device, like my wife, that you can't get serviced and the carrier just says, "We'll give you 20$ for it and you can choose from any of our full price phones."

 

[TyPod]

I will always remember thanks to this poster that has been hanging for a few years.

That's a really cool poster! It was a great time for Apple.

 

[Trius]

I have the original iPhone which I purchased the day after launch in the UK back in November 2007. I've yet to upgrade and have used the phone every day since, I think it may only have been turned off for a maximum of a few hours at a time for things like exams many years ago.

Some of the more amusing moments recently have been when people ask if it's the new iPhone, I guess they had forgotten what the 2G looked like.

The only part thats failed on the phone is the headset which I had replaced once under warranty, the current one has also stopped working. The phone has also never been in a case, though I've been careful with it over the years, so it's still in good condition, no scratches on the screen and only one hard to see dent on the back. The chrome strip around the screen is looking a little worn though.

So whats it like for my day to day use.

Phone Calls - Works fine
Text Messages - Works fine
Email - Works fine
Web Browsing - Slow, but if you can wait its fine
Camera - Low quality, no video
Calendar - No sync services for it anymore so I sync via iTunes
Contacts - No sync services for it anymore so I sync via iTunes
Music - Works fine, can listen to music for quite a few hours.
Movies - Plays back standard def videos fine, playback lasts a few hours
Games - Angry Birds, Star Defense, Zenonia, Zen Bound, Galaxy on Fire, Monkey Ball and others play fine though some are a little slow. Can only play for around an hour or so on the battery.
Updates and New Applications - There are none available, make sure not to auto update the apps in iTunes.

Overall its slow and there are no new apps or updates for it, but it still works fine. The most frustrating thing is that older versions of the apps are not available so apps that used to work fine on it can no longer be purchased or downloaded for it.
The battery life is still not bad, I leave everything turned on (WiFi, Bluetooth, Location, Notifications), and charge the phone at night so it's good for the next day. Though this isn't completely necessary as it will run for a good few days of light usage.
The lack of 3G is annoying but most places I go have WiFi. The lack of GPS is another issue, though not one that I'm that bothered by.

As well as the original iPhone I also have an Apple Bluetooth Headset to go with it, the battery life on the headset isn't that great any more but it does the job, though I rarely use it.


When I first bought the phone I said I would use it until it broke, was lost, or the battery life became so bad that it's unusable. It isn't that time yet though probably soon it will be. I've watched the release of every new iPhone since, where I've been pretty excited to see it but decided not to buy as it either wasn't a big enough change (the earlier models) or was out of my budget especially as my phone still works (newer models).

Nice to see there are still some originals out there! Still might be my favorite design of any iPhone.

----------

Agreed to this

Best product reveal EVER! Steve was simply brilliant that day!

I've re-watched it several times. Steve was the master at getting people excited for a new product.

 

[rovex]

Must be slow as heck.