Steve Jobs Confirms Lack of Future Support for Original iPhone

[LCS]

You truly are a too far gone mental case, L*T*D. Between you and the other Kool-Aid-drinking "Yes, Messiah! What ever you say, Messiah!", LagunaSol, the crap in here is at least waist-high.

If this were ANY company outside of your Saint Apple, you'd be screaming bloody murder. Literally, you'd want to see a Bill Gates or those two (much hipper, more brilliant) Google dudes beat up for it. You'd spout off by manipulation of the market and greed on the company's part and then you give a free pass to Steven H. Jobs Christ for a phone that only was introduced in 2007!!

You must have a pretty empty existence and obviously, a low bank account. lol I guess if being a financial martyr to Apple gives you a purpose, then more laughter for the rest of us. lol

Personally, I'm looking forward to upgrading my original iPhone, which is 2.5 years old and still the only phone I use. I will have enjoyed it for nearly 3 years, and I've never regretted that purchase for an instant. I feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of it.

The thing is--I never expected that it would last forever; that's unreasonable in this day & age. Anyone who buys a cell phone and expects it to last even 5 years is being naive, not those of us who make a deliberate decision to buy a new gadget with full awareness of the ramifications of the decision we're making.

Oh, and btw, another thing about my *original* iPhone: it was a 1.0 and it's given me not one problem. ever.*

Bring on some new hardware!


*When I bought it I was aware of the risk of the "1.0 effect." But again, it's one thing to be a naive kool-aid drinker, and quite another to take a calculated risk. I did the latter, and with my iPhone, I lucked out.

 

[s1m]

I really don't get some of the responses. This is a phone not a computer. I have never had any updates to the OS for a phone or blackberry. new functionality always came with a new phone purchase.

Also in terms of the backwards compatibility for games/apps. I am not sure I understand this. If I buy an app for OS3.x and it works and I stick with an iPhone running OS3.x then the game will continue to work. I assume developers can choose to develop updates for older apps but I expect that is unlikely - in the same way that I don't get new features on Office 2000 now that later versions of Office are out.

Also if someone gives away their older iPhone (say 3 years old) then how can the recipient complain that they can't run the latest tech given they have an old item?

At least people can plan for this obsolescence now. The trickier set of consumers are going to be those buying in the second half of the the generation's year of release. if this continues to be the model then sales of iPhones will significantly decrease in that period as people will know the phone is only good for 2-2 1/2 years and not 3 years...

 

[fkntotalkaos]

Exactly...

but some people don't understand that and will continue to bitch and complain.

WTF my Apple IIe wont run OS X?

 

[captain kaos]

Typical Apple, making sure your shiny expensive toy has a short shelf life so you have to go out and sell your soul come the next update time.

 

[ioinc]

leaving the door open

I think its awesome that apple is leaving the door open for other cell phone makers (and tablet).

As if it were not enough to introduce a top of the line phone with no MMS technology, they withheld it from first gen. owners when it finally was available.

Now, they are dropping 1st gen owners totally.

I am sure Google is just loving it.

Lucky for us the are doing the same thing on with their tablet.

Leave the door open apple..... it creates market competition.

The chances that someone comes along and does to your phone and tablet market share the same thing that windows did to your computer market share is only about ... hmmm.... 100%

 

[Bat Commander]

I think its awesome that apple is leaving the door open for other cell phone makers (and tablet).

As if it were not enough to introduce a top of the line phone with no MMS technology, they withheld it from first gen. owners when it finally was available.

Now, they are dropping 1st gen owners totally.

I am sure Google is just loving it.

Lucky for us the are doing the same thing on with their tablet.

Leave the door open apple..... it creates market competition.

The chances that someone comes along and does to your phone and tablet market share the same thing that windows did to your computer market share is only about ... hmmm.... 100%

This post doesn't make sense. Apple never promised MMS on the original iPhone. People bought it for what it did at the time... not what they expected it to do.

 

[elistan]

Umm... yes, actually.

I usually *do* replace my electronics and computers on about a 2 - 3 year cycle! I'm not saying everyone should, but if you're an "enthusiast" about such things, why wouldn't you?

I find that if I resell my used electronics or computer products after they're no more than 3 years old, I can get quite a bit of resale value out of them to put towards buying the new version. So in effect, I'm only paying about 1/3rd. of the product's initial cost to have a fresh new one (with full factory warranty) after I've used and enjoyed it for a couple years or more.

Obviously, there are exceptions. (I consider TV sets to generally be one, as most people just don't expect them to change drastically enough to make sense to upgrade them that often. You tend to buy one of an adequate size with a picture quality you're happy with - and those attributes don't change.)

But I can tell you right now ... I would find a 5+ year old laptop VERY frustrating to use today. Considering I can justify the purchase of one a business tax write-off anyway? There's no WAY I'd poke along on something like that. After 5 years, I'm pretty sure your original battery holds NO charge anymore too. Or did you spend $150 or more (typical for laptop batteries) to replace that already? If so, wow ... even more argument you should have just sold the thing earlier and upgraded instead.

Hey, nothing wrong with that. I just choose to do it differently. (No business write-offs here, FWIW.)
The only thing frustrating with my laptop (17" Dell Inspiron 9200, 1GB RAM, 1.8 GHz Pentium M) is that it'll stutter doing HD video from YouTube - Flash stuff can clobber my machine sometimes. (Hooray for Flashblock and I'm glad Flash is not supported on the iPhone OS.) But for everything else I use it for (email, web browsing, photos, iTunes) it does perfectly fine. I used to use it for gaming, but bought a console for that a few years ago - per my usage pattern, it shouldn't surprise you that a big reason for that was to avoid upgrade cycles. Battery life on the original 53Wh battery is about 2 hours or so now, not that I've actually tested it recently. Dell originally said 3.4 hours, IIRC. Not bad. When I replaced my Alienware desktop with the laptop, I mostly got it to shift my computer usage from the desk to the couch so it stays plugged in all the time unless I carry it into the kitchen or wherever. The 60% remaining battery life suits me just fine - I didn't get it for travel or coffee shops or such.

Honestly, basic Internet browsing requirements haven't grown THAT much that a 5 year old machine can't handle it. That's why a 1GHz A4 with 256MB RAM works so well for Apple with the iPad.

 

[kdarling]

This post doesn't make sense. Apple never promised MMS on the original iPhone. People bought it for what it did at the time... not what they expected it to do.

We've already been over this in a different thread.

At launch, it was highly expected (and even announced by Apple) that the iPhone would get regular updates, especially to replace missing functionality. MMS was just one missing feature that many thought would come quickly.

--

My question is this: if Apple plans to drop mobile OSX device support every two years, then what does this foretell for grande-size iPod touch (aka "iPad") owners?

 

[Nostromo]

My worry is this: if they plan to drop device support every two years, then what does this foretell for grande-size iPod touch (aka "iPad") owners?

First generation devices are likely to lose support sooner than later generations. I don't think this is bad will from Apple. Maybe it would just hold back the development of the iPhone OS.

Maybe later generations of iPhones will be supported longer.

Regarding the iPad, I think you are right.

 

[firewood]

Where are you getting this from?

ARM CPUs cannot work in tandem, because they compete. In fact, trying to put two ARM1176JZ(F)-S CPUs together will just cripple the way the processing works.

There is no evidence that the other 2 ARM CPUs in the 1st gen iPhone are 1176JZF's. But according to the CEO of ARM, Apple is paying for 3 or more ARM CPUs per device:

http://www.eetimes.com/news/design/rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197004232&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_designRSS

The CEO of ARM is probably under fiduciary responsibility not to exaggerate the number of licenses they're getting paid for per Apple device manufactured.

 

[kdarling]

There is no evidence that the other 2 ARM CPUs in the 1st gen iPhone are 1176JZF's. But according to the CEO or ARM, Apple is paying for 3 or more ARM CPUs per device:

As I just mentioned the other day, the other two ARM cores were supposedly in the WiFI and Infineon EDGE chips.

They're not part of main processing.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

I don't know why some people think a phone should last like a computer does. It's mobile, you bump it, you drop it, it gets left in the sun maybe...it's just something that takes more abuse physically just by the nature of the device. So you can't expect it to last very long.

Phones by their nature, are short term devices. Plus in this case when you all see the HD screen and the extra battery life of the new models coming, you KNOW you're gonna want to upgrade. Admit it!

 

[German]

I don't know why some people think a phone should last like a computer does.

Because support is discontinued without any technical reason.

Phones by their nature, are short term devices. Plus in this case when you all see the HD screen and the extra battery life of the new models coming, you KNOW you're gonna want to upgrade. Admit it!

Wouldn't it be nice to have a "backup phone" with iPhone OS4?

WTF my Apple IIe wont run OS X?

Stupid post.

 

[Little Endian]

No Surprise here.

My iphone 3G runs like a snail. When it was new it was blazing fast but the last 2-3 updates to iphone OS 3.1 have come with speed penalties, actually it may have been around the 3.1 update itself when the slowdowns first occured. Makes me wonder in a paranoid way that Apple is purposely making my iphone sluggish in the hopes that I would upgrade to a 3GS or newer model when available.

Startup time takes forever.... there is a delay when exiting most applications not to mention a much longer delay than before when starting apps. The delay is most irritating in exiting apps as I often wind up double clicking on the home button out of impatience. Keypad entry gets sticky sometimes especially in maps and messages. All in all everything is much slower. I tried doing a clean install and nothing so a month ago out of frustration I decided to jailbreak my iphone for the first time, seeing that I did not have much too loose. Even after the Jailbreak the phone is still slow but not much worse than running the stock 3.1.3

So long story short is that conspiracy or not, the added features of iphone OS 4.0 would probably bog my 3G down even more not to mention what it would do to an original iphone. I doubt Apple will pull a miracle out of it's hat and make iphone OS 4.0 even snappier than the current version OS on current hardware.

 

[Neodym]

Because support is discontinued without any technical reason.

SURPRISE - there are other possible reasons besides the technical aspect, e.g. commercial issues (which are often more important when it comes to such decisions)!

Supporting a piece of hardware always demands tests of new functions to make sure they work as intended (at least for a company like Apple which relies on their products to offer a smooth experience). Even if the technical specs seem to be similar, there can be small differences (which could be a showstopper on their own - technical reason!). Unless you have the blueprint and bill of quantities for both devices, you are not in the position to determine whether both units are technically identical or whether there are no technical reasons that prevent further support for a unit.

Even if both units sport the same CPU and graphic chip, there can be dozens of other technical differences (chip revisions, different manfucaturers etc. - even the routing of conducting paths _could_ be an issue e.g. for signal crosstalk) - thus testing is required to make sure the units behave as intended (sometimes even the same chips can differ in behaviour depending on the stepping revision). This testing costs manpower and money - and resources are limited for every company!

Wouldn't it be nice to have a "backup phone" with iPhone OS4?

Feel free to hack your 2G and update the OS to v4. But don't demand Apple to support you for lifetime only because you once bought a commodity unit from them.

Stupid post.

No reason to become impolite here! The poster used a good analogy to demonstrate the absurdity of your demand. Maybe you have a slight feeling he might actually be right?!

 

[ioinc]

This post doesn't make sense. Apple never promised MMS on the original iPhone. People bought it for what it did at the time... not what they expected it to do.

Apple should have come out with MMS on the original iPhone.... there were far less advanced phones at the time that supported it.

When they finally did come out with it, for no reason I can think of... Apple did not support the original iPhone.

To expect your product to support standard features available in like products does not seem unreasonable as a consumer.

To expect apple to add features across the range of its product line that will support them does not seem unreasonable either.

 

[DesmoPilot]

So they've dead-ended a $400 (or $600 if you bought it at the original price point) dollar phone in under 3 years? Awesome.

 

[German]

Feel free to hack your 2G and update the OS to v4. But don't demand Apple to support you for lifetime only because you once bought a commodity unit from them.

I don't have a 2G.

No reason to become impolite here! The poster used a good analogy to demonstrate the absurdity of your demand.

Your post seems to be even more stupid!

There is no analogy, because the iPhone 2G, iPod Touch 1G and iPhone 3G have the same hardware.
So what is the absurdity of my demand? Instead you think the comparison ("WTF my Apple IIe wont run OS X?") is a good one?

Maybe you have a slight feeling he might actually be right?!

Are you kidding?
(Apple IIe is a 8bit computer)

 

[diamond.g]

What about application upgrades? Especially if come next year the 3G won't be able to run the next OS. Are we going to have to stop getting bug fixes and upgrades for our apps?

It appears the main reason why the 1,2 is supported and not 1,1 is due to user base. There are far more 1,2 users than there are 1,1 users. That is a base you would rather not get too upset. Plus they are still selling 1,2 as new.

I asked in another thread why OGL games didn't look better and run faster than what they did. A few people mentioned backwards compatibility with the most of your userbase. It would be nice to get a breakout of the number of each model in use. It would appear that having to worry about backwards compatibility, since we know devices 3 years old won't be supported, is off the table. Maybe next year we will get games that actually push the hardware.

 

[twoodcc]

well this really isn't a bad thing. except for those still using a first gen iPhone. but that phone is out of date

 

[kdarling]

...This testing costs manpower and money - and resources are limited for every company!

That argument might work for Palm, but Apple is flush with extra cash. Especially in this case:

Because of SOX, Apple appears to set aside ~$20 per phone for software upgrades. With 50 million sold, that's a billion dollars for upgrades. Even at a tenth of that, there's plenty of money if they wished to support older models.

For that matter, they could charge for upgrades. There's a huge market for iPhone software. Apple tells us that every day. Let them use their own store.

Apple simply wants people to spend money on a newer phone. It's the usual phone sales model.

Feel free to hack your 2G and update the OS to v4. But don't demand Apple to support you for lifetime only because you once bought a commodity unit from them.

Agreed. And now that people know that Apple has a limit on support, everyone can give better advice on what to buy.

No reason to become impolite here! The poster used a good analogy to demonstrate the absurdity of your demand. Maybe you have a slight feeling he might actually be right?!

The Apple II analogy was really bad. iPhone models are very similar to each other. And other phones have been multitasking for years on slower cpus with less RAM.

 

[whooleytoo]

My question is this: if Apple plans to drop mobile OSX device support every two years, then what does this foretell for grande-size iPod touch (aka "iPad") owners?

I think the lesson is - don't buy 1.0 products from Apple!

Apple won't fill the initial release of a new product with lots of features, because it doesn't have to. It'll sell anyway. Then a year or two later, they'll add those features to the second generation when sales of the 1.0 products peak.

I'd love an iPad, but I think I'll wait for the first revision before considering it.

 

[HyperZboy]

I stood in line and paid $600 for one of those. Are you calling me a moron?

I stood in line at not one but TWO stores (the store manager took the last one they had after telling me I'd get one) and paid $600 too.

So yes, I feel like a moron.

I really think Steve Jobs is going to have to stop pulling these stunts (I'll stop short of calling it a scam since I got lots of great use out of my iPhone and still will in the future). However, the whole thing just leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths since it's clear there's no technical reason for non-support, just an arbitrary CEO decision to screw over customers.

 

[whooleytoo]

I stood in line at not one but TWO stores (the store manager took the last one they had after telling me I'd get one) and paid $600 too.

So yes, I feel like a moron.

I really think Steve Jobs is going to have to stop pulling these stunts (I'll stop short of calling it a scam since I got lots of great use out of my iPhone and still will in the future). However, the whole thing just leaves a bad taste in peoples' mouths since it's clear there's no technical reason for non-support, just an arbitrary CEO decision.

Apple aren't going to continue support for older devices, unless sales suffer because of it or their image is tarnished in the press by criticism of this choice.

IMO, it's a worrying sign. While it might be a "phone", it's far more a hand-held computer; and 3 years is a very, very short time to support any computer. "Planned obsolescence" seems to be an integral part of Apple's strategy these days?

 

[HyperZboy]

Time to move on. You can still use your first-gen iPhone, but there are just too many reasons to upgrade.

Apple doesn't like to hang on to legacy-ware, and at the end of the day it's a good thing.

See, I was right. Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field is fully powered up and all is good in the world again. It's now just a new and exciting "FEATURE."

I think some magazine should write an in-depth story about Steve Jobs and his power and influence over the media, computer and electronics industries and compare and contrast that with Steve Jobs famous "1984" ad for the Mac. It's quite extraordinary how Jobs has morphed into exactly what he so harshly criticized when he was younger, excessive power and influence over a market (i.e.: Microsoft & Windows).

Oh, one last thing...
Is the rumor true that you live in a tiny pocket inside Steve Jobs' pant leg close enough to give a reach? LOL