Will iPad 1 become obsolete when iPad 3 releases?

[Silverbird0000]

Generally speaking Apple keeps a product in iOS update rotation for 3 cycles. EX iPhone 3G iOS 2.0-iOS 4.2.1. However this trait is going to change with the release of iOS 6. The iPhone 3GS will support with limited functionality iOS 6. So going off this, your iPad will most likely support up until iOS 7. iOS 4-iOS 7.
As product become for tech spec impressive, you will see them being supported for a longer time. iPad 2 to will most likely support iOS 8 possibly iOS 9 (wow thats a far time into the future!)

Correction: Your math is wrong, by your calculations using iPhone 3G, it would be iOS 4 - iOS 6 for iPad 1, but that is not even right because the iPad 1 originally shipped with iOS 3. So by your rationalization it would be iOS 3 - iOS 5.

On another note, my iPad 1 runs horribly on iOS 5. I doubt it will get iOS 6. As soon as iPad 3 is out, i'm upgrading. I can't stand the 1-2 minute delay to open the Music app on iPad 1, and the delay in registering touches.

 

[Hammie]

Not necessarily obsolete, but I know I will be retiring my iPad 1 when the iPad 3 is released.

 

[GreatDrok]

They're still selling the iPhone 3GS so that has to get three years of support from the point they stop selling it. This means the iPad 1 should also still get iOS updates for that long but it is possible they'll drop it so they don't have to QC the software on such old hardware. I have an iPad 1 running iOS 5 and it is fine for my needs so I won't replace it until there is something about the latest one ai really feel I need even once OS updates stop. Heck, I still use an iBook G4.

 

[mertyz]

Depends on what you are doing with it. If you are using your iPad for web browsing, listening to music, reading books, using some rather simple apps etc., it will last until its battery dies.

Just ask yourself this question when iPad 3 is released: Do I really need these new features?

 

[Richdmoore]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

A bigger issue than apple's support may to some be app support.

For those with multiple iOS devices, as the apps start to require higher iOS versions, we have the choice of either not updating the app (less features or incompatibility with newer iOS devices) or upgrade for the newer device, and lose the app during the next sync on the older device.