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Why is 2.1 for iPhone coming 3 days after 2.1 for iPod Touch?

D

docprego

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 12, 2007
1,244
111
Henderson, NV
There must be something about 2.1 for iPhone that is causing Apple to release it 3 days later than the same firmware for the iPod Touch. For the most part (minus the phone and GPS features)the firmware should be identical, or maybe it is not and this delay is to highlight that fact? Surely both versions are tested and ready to go, so why the 3 day delay?

Just speculating but I don't recall a major iPhone/iPod Touch firmware arriving 3 days apart from each other.
 
my guess is because there is something new on the iphone and they didnt want to kill the new iPod touch's thunder. that is a new big seller for them and they dont wanna miss out on any sales. They wait for the "must havers" to go get them and then they release the iPhone update and then that same group's people that have been holding out rush out and get the new&improved iphone 3G
 
Most likely so that Apple's servers don't get severely bogged down with millions of iPhone/iPod Touch owners downloading the update at once. Come on now, let's think...:rolleyes:
 
Could be all the reasons or just the third one.

1) They don't want to rofl the servers.
2) There's some new feature.
3) The phone part takes up a while to fix...they have to fix SMS lag, reception, call drops, GPS lag, etc.
 
jcde7ago said:
Most likely so that Apple's servers don't get severely bogged down with millions of iPhone/iPod Touch owners downloading the update at once. Come on now, let's think...:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Where part of me agree's with this, i dont think that it will really be a problem.

apple makes servers and i am sure that they have enough to handle just about anything the want to put out. i say just about because we remember when they released all that stuff in one day, but that include new web software, like 4 different updates and god knows what else they were working on in the background. I think that they could handle touch and iphone updates at the same time. i think that my post above is a main reason

on the other hand the server issue is just that, an issue
 
docprego said:
They never used this logic before, I did "think" about that.
Click to expand...

They never used that logic before maybe because their servers never got hit so hard with issues up until they released 2.0 + iPhone 3G activations on the same day. I think it's fair to say that they did learn this time around.
 
jcde7ago said:
They never used that logic before maybe because their servers never got hit so hard with issues up until they released 2.0 + iPhone 3G activations on the same day. I think it's fair to say that they did learn this time around.
Click to expand...

Still don't agree that a company with Apple's resources and expertise would not be ready for anything that could be asked of them.

My hunch is that this firmware has some surprises that they wanted to isolate from the iPod Touch version so that it does not affect the perception of the new iPod Touch negatively.
 
I really don't know but doubt they launched the Itouch software first because of server issues.
 
docprego said:
Still don't agree that a company with Apple's resources and expertise would not be ready for anything that could be asked of them.

My hunch is that this firmware has some surprises that they wanted to isolate from the iPod Touch version so that it does not affect the perception of the new iPod Touch negatively.
Click to expand...

sounds like what i said;)
 
docprego said:
Still don't agree that a company with Apple's resources and expertise would not be ready for anything that could be asked of them.

My hunch is that this firmware has some surprises that they wanted to isolate from the iPod Touch version so that it does not affect the perception of the new iPod Touch negatively.
Click to expand...

I don't disagree with this, but having possible new features related to the iPhone wouldn't negatively affect the new iPod Touches. I mean, if anything, it's already been confirmed that Nike+ is integrated with the Touch, along with a surprising Bluetooth chip that was uncovered, and many more features. the iPhone might not even be capable of the Nike+ capabilities.

Anyways, regardless of the features the software updates might bring, it doesn't change the fact that whether or not there are different versions of 2.1 for the Touch and iPhone, it still affects Apple's server load. Sure, a company of Apple's scope by all means should be able to handle millions of users downloading at once, but going by what happened on July 11th, just because it's Apple does not mean that their servers are any more capable of handling such a large amount of simultaneous downloads, especially since the updates are quite large in size (around 250+ MB). Multiply 250 MB by a few million people downloading all at once and you have a recipe for certain disaster...

EDIT: Let's not forget that they do run the iTunes store as well, which also has an effect on traffic
 
Okay I withdraw my earlier speculation about not wanting to crash servers again. After reading the MacRumors site tonight, it is now apparent to me that a far more sinister reason lies at the root of this evil.

The real reason for the three day lag:

Steve Jobs is conspiring with Bill Gates. Together, the two are putting the finishing touches on new software for the iPhone. This software will run quietly in the background, recording and transmitting to Apple, everything. I mean everything! Every message, call, photo, etc. It silently uses the camera and the built-in mic to spy on YOU and everyone around you.

Be afraid.
 
jcde7ago said:
I don't disagree with this, but having possible new features related to the iPhone wouldn't negatively affect the new iPod Touches. I mean, if anything, it's already been confirmed that Nike+ is integrated with the Touch, along with a surprising Bluetooth chip that was uncovered, and many more features. the iPhone might not even be capable of the Nike+ capabilities.

Anyways, regardless of the features the software updates might bring, it doesn't change the fact that whether or not there are different versions of 2.1 for the Touch and iPhone, it still affects Apple's server load. Sure, a company of Apple's scope by all means should be able to handle millions of users downloading at once, but going by what happened on July 11th, just because it's Apple does not mean that their servers are any more capable of handling such a large amount of simultaneous downloads, especially since the updates are quite large in size (around 250+ MB). Multiply 250 MB by a few million people downloading all at once and you have a recipe for certain disaster...
Click to expand...

They most certainly will have enough servers and bandwidth to go around, as I said this is not the reason they waited 3 days. July 11th was different, that wasn't about downloads that was about activation issues.
 
It's possible that Apple is trying to avoid the 3G problems they had for the 2.0.2 update. From what I could figure out Apple released their update, but AT&T had not finished pushing out required updates to their towers. So my phone kept telling me that I was in Philadelphia when I was actually in Salt lake City. So this time they are possibly waiting for AT&T to finish.....that is if there is a fundamental change to how the iPhone is going to talk to the towers.
 
The only time there was ever a server problem with a firmware update was when they were also using their servers to activate almost a million iPhones as well. Sure, there are more iPhone users out there today, but the server load will be NOTHING like it was on 7/11.

The VAST majority of users have NO IDEA that an update is coming out on friday. The VAST MAJORITY only update when iTunes tells them that a newer version is available. The VAST MAJORITY have no idea what "Let's Rock" said, or even that it happened.

Let's get real for a second here, the server load on friday is going to be a tiny blip and the relatively small number of iPod touch users that update on the first day an update is available is a tiny blip on apple's servers.

Think about it, freaking iTunes 8 came out on Tuesday, which has millions more users than iPod Touch and iPhone combined AND its a larger file by a SUBSTANTIAL margin. And there were virtually ZERO server issues. And introducing genius would have further compounded any server issues, since it uploaded millions of users' iTunes information.

So let's think for a second here (as another poster said, for the opposite reason), this has NOTHING to do with server issues.

The only time Apple has ever had server issues was when they released 2.0 (which was hyped roughly 6000 times more than 2.1, heck from what we know from Apple, 2.1 should really just be 2.0.3) and activated hundreds of thousands of new iPhones in several countries.

My guesses are:

1) they wanted to let touch users be the guinea pigs before they released to the substantially larger iPhone market

2) Let's Rock was an iPod event, and Apple went out of their way to not mention the iPhone. Possibly just an extension of that. The iPod Touch owners complain a lot of feeling like step-children, maybe Apple is just making up for that

3) Somewhat related to 2, since there was so much about the iPod Touch in Let's Rock, they put all their efforts to push 2.1 for the touch to make sure it was available with that day. There was no similar pressure for the iPhone version

4) the iPhone 2.1 firmware essentially has minor, but critical, differences between the 2G and 3G versions. Perhaps they have essentially the gold master overall, but wanted a couple of days to make sure it was good for both the 2G and 3G.
 
I just heard from a reliable source at apple on why the update is 3 days later.





It was simply put: "Because Steve said so."
 
AppleWoW said:
I just heard from a reliable source at apple on why the update is 3 days later.





It was simply put: "Because Steve said so."
Click to expand...

It wouldn't surprise me if this was the case. Give the iPhone team a bit longer in case they needed it. He definitely isn't happy about all this **** that has happened in the last two months.
 
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