> I am not upset they're not keeping support for a phone from 2007.
Except that sales of the iPhone 3G seized... on June 4th, 2010. Of the iPod Touch 2G, with the same CPU, on September 1st, 2010.
This isn't about not keeping support, this is a bit more fundamental. This is about no longer being able to get things onto devices that were sold barely two years ago any longer. And possibly not even being able to compile things for those devices.
Two years. That's the lifespan Apple gives your devices. Two years and a few weeks and it's obsolete.
The iPad 1 was introduced on April 3rd, 2010. And that was the Wi-Fi version, in the US only. The last update for the OS it'll ever get was released on May 7th, 2012.
Two years, plus a few weeks, and it's obsolete.
Two years is how long Apple plans for your device to last before they want you to buy a new one.
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In fact, if you bought a brand new iPod touch 2G from Apple, on September 1st, 2010, you got your last OS update on November 22nd 2010. That's less than three months. And people say that Android doesn't support its devices with updates...
While i agree that (planned) obsolescence is a bad thing, Apple/iOS is still in a way better shape than Android where some devices never ran a current-gen version of the OS and never saw an update to a new major version.
For starters, not least of all due to the definition of "major version".
And also because being stuck on one Android version is not so bad since apps from the Android Market have way more control over the OS than Apple's. If the built-in WebKit is a security risk, you can download Firefox or Opera or a browser that comes with its own WebKit or whatnot, and will be able to do so forever. You can sideload it, if you're so inclined. On an iPhone 3GS, you'll be stuck with that version of WebKit forever.
And ever.
Until Apple shuts down their authentication servers (or 404s/times out a certain URL on their servers for that model of phone) for that phone and what you'll have then is a brick.
Your iPhone will last as long as Apple chooses. And if Apple doesn't choose, they're gone and it's a brick. Either way, Apple got your money.
Except that sales of the iPhone 3G seized... on June 4th, 2010. Of the iPod Touch 2G, with the same CPU, on September 1st, 2010.
This isn't about not keeping support, this is a bit more fundamental. This is about no longer being able to get things onto devices that were sold barely two years ago any longer. And possibly not even being able to compile things for those devices.
Two years. That's the lifespan Apple gives your devices. Two years and a few weeks and it's obsolete.
The iPad 1 was introduced on April 3rd, 2010. And that was the Wi-Fi version, in the US only. The last update for the OS it'll ever get was released on May 7th, 2012.
Two years, plus a few weeks, and it's obsolete.
Two years is how long Apple plans for your device to last before they want you to buy a new one.
----
In fact, if you bought a brand new iPod touch 2G from Apple, on September 1st, 2010, you got your last OS update on November 22nd 2010. That's less than three months. And people say that Android doesn't support its devices with updates...