Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
If iPhone OS 4.0 is suppose to be for the 3G/3GS only...
- Thread starter Mr. Specialist
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Did you actually read my post?
There is only one component that causes that difference: the baseband radio. And such a difference does not equate to difficulty of OS support on said hardware.
THANK YOU. Somebody else here gets it.
If they actually go through with dropping support for the original iPhone instead of supporting it for one last round of updates, I agree, this will be the logic behind it. Which I think is asinine.
Then again, I've never been accused of having great marketing acumen. You're no fun.
Ugh. Do people have trouble with reading comprehension these days?
Nobody is arguing that they shouldn't eventually cut old hardware support loose. Nobody.
What some of us are arguing is that the core differences in hardware specs between the original iPhone and the 3G are so minute that it would be next-to-no trouble for Apple to make an OS that works on the 3G also work on the original iPhone, too.
I am simply saying that any OS that supports the 3G should also support the original iPhone. When it's time to cut off the original iPhone from software support, the 3G should go at that time, too.
Oh, snap...
...now that I read it again, I think you're right.
Speaking of reading comprehension skills... *egg on my face*
- - - -
As a follow-up to my previous posts on this subject, look at it this way:
Yes, as it has been established, just because Apple has no good technical reason to withhold the next major OS version upgrade from the original iPhone doesn't mean that they won't withhold it, since their logic might have nothing to do with the technical. But if, as has been noted, the original and 3G hardware are nearly identical, and thus it would take little-to-no effort on Apple's part to get the new OS running on the oldest hardware, there is a good reason FOR them to release it on the original iPhone:
App sales.
Apple gets a nice-sized cut from every app that is sold in the App Store. As time goes by, the amount of apps that will require the latest 4.x release will steadily grow. When that happens, people still running 3.x will be left out in the cold as far as the latest apps are concerned, whether they are running that older version of the OS by choice or not. At that point, people with iPhones that are otherwise functioning perfectly fine will be faced with a choice: stick with what they have and forego new apps or updates to apps they already have, upgrade to a newer iPhone, or leave the platform entirely.
It seems to me that it is in Apple's best interest in the mobile platform wars -- with various different competitors hot on their heels -- to grow their total market share. You don't do that by introducing artificial obsolescence that causes current customers of yours to be forced into a crossroads which, in turn, gives those customers the opportunity to leave your platform. You do it by keeping those customers around, if at all technically feasible (and in this case, it is technically feasible, IF the 3G is going to be supported), so that you can keep adding their number to your total market share.
-- Nathan
P.S. -- Oh yeah, not to mention that they can sell more apps to more people if the original phones are kept on life support for one term longer.
I completely agree with their actions. Original iPhones are going to see junkyards in 2010. With the prospect of replacing the battery being the same price as a new iPhone with contract, those reluctant upgraders will finally jump.
It's one thing to be upset if critical bugs in 1,1 3.1.2.ipsw are crippling your use and another to expect the newest and best from a two year old device.
It's one thing to be upset if critical bugs in 1,1 3.1.2.ipsw are crippling your use and another to expect the newest and best from a two year old device.
Uh...what?
Battery replacement direct from Apple for the original iPhone costs $85.95. Nowhere near a new phone + contract renewal.
-- Nathan
It's unrealistic to expect the first iPhone to be able to run all of the new software Apple is expected to introduce. In fact, I doubt the 3G can even mutlitask with the chipset inside of it, but I guess it all depends on how Apple implements it. I think we can all agree that they will be adding that feature with the Android and such beginning to gain popularity. I expect this update will, in typical Apple fashion, silence the critics and send competitors back to the drawing board.
*sigh* At the risk of sounding like a broken record...
It is not unrealistic to expect this if and only if they support the 3G model, too (not the 3GS, mind you! I'm talking about the 3G model only!). For the last time (at least I'm going to try to make it the last time...honest), the CPU, RAM, and GPU are i-freaking-dentical between the original iPhone and the 3G. Don't believe me? Go look it up. The ONLY task that the 3G is faster at than the original iPhone is cellular networking. That's it. The CPU and RAM are what will limit the ability to multitask apps or not; it has nothing to do with the baseband radio.Exactly. If they can make it work on the 3G, though, then they can certainly make it work on the original, because they have the same core design and components.
I'll shut up now...
-- Nathan
Ok, I will say it for the third time. The first-gen iPhone being left out of any new major updates has nothing to do with the hardware.
It has to do with apple wanting everyone to upgrade so they can get more money!
/sarcastic anti apple view.
Why is that anti apple? They're a huge corporation with stockholders and that's probably the most accurate statement yet.
Below is the blurb Apple's always put in their SEC filings. I guess they've always considered 24-months to be the estimated economic life for iPhones and AppleTVs.*sigh* At the risk of sounding like a broken record...
Wonder if that means we've seen the end to AppleTV updates, too?
There comes a time and point where then need to say it is an old device and we are no longer supporting updates, but we will continue to repair or replace them etc etc.
by the time 4.0 comes out the original iPhone will be over 3 years old
I know there are a lot of ppl who have the 2G but there needs to be a point where you only support the newer stuff, just how long will someone hang onto older models before upgrading, there were already a lot of features that were missing when 3G replaced the 2G, now with 3GS there are even more, so there just comes a time and point to replace the older stuff, it is called System Life Cycle.
by the time 4.0 comes out the original iPhone will be over 3 years old
I know there are a lot of ppl who have the 2G but there needs to be a point where you only support the newer stuff, just how long will someone hang onto older models before upgrading, there were already a lot of features that were missing when 3G replaced the 2G, now with 3GS there are even more, so there just comes a time and point to replace the older stuff, it is called System Life Cycle.
Come next year it will be all about LTE and by then no one will support Edge as a "standard."
The difference is the original iPhone is 1yr older then the 3G.
Support will only go back so far.
At this point everyone who got a 2G should either be past or close to the end of their 2 year contract.
If support was dropped while you were in contract I'd see that as wrong, if you support the device forever less people will upgrade. Business has to come into it at some point.
Support will only go back so far.
At this point everyone who got a 2G should either be past or close to the end of their 2 year contract.
If support was dropped while you were in contract I'd see that as wrong, if you support the device forever less people will upgrade. Business has to come into it at some point.
Countries outside the US - lots.
The UK hasn't even auctioned off it's LTE frequencies yet, never mind had anyone start building a network which will take over a decade to make.
Phazer
Exactly. If we don't see an upgrade for the original iPhone, but we do for the computationally equivalent iPhone 3G, this will be the reason.
Of course, Apple has already demonstrated that they know how to get around that limitation: charge a nominal fee for upgrades after 24 months are up, like they do for the iPod touch. But that, as I've said in another thread, might risk angering original iPhone owners even more than if they never get the upgrade at all.
I think the thing that people are missing is that the iPhone profits/revenue are split up across 24 months. So the revenue for a single phone sale is spread out in Apple's filings across two years. The reason for this is to allow for software updates.
My guess is that the original iPhone is getting well beyond that 24 month revenue sharing process they're doing. The result? Support is probably going to drop.
It likely isn't hardware related so much. They could just disable features that aren't likely to run well because of hardware. But I think it would have to do with the profits and how they report revenue to the SEC.
Just a hunch. But it seems a lot more likely than "Well, they need to end support at some point." Blah blah blah.
Edit: eh, someone beat me to the punch. Ignore me.
My guess is that the original iPhone is getting well beyond that 24 month revenue sharing process they're doing. The result? Support is probably going to drop.
It likely isn't hardware related so much. They could just disable features that aren't likely to run well because of hardware. But I think it would have to do with the profits and how they report revenue to the SEC.
Just a hunch. But it seems a lot more likely than "Well, they need to end support at some point." Blah blah blah.
Edit: eh, someone beat me to the punch. Ignore me.
- The 3G featured and addition of a power management module from Infineon (Infineon 208 PMB 8877)
- The 3G had an increased memory bus speed (1Gbit DDR Mobile SDRAM)
- Changes in suppliers for baseband, and media codec chipsets.
There's more going on with multitasking and other new features than just the speed of the CPU. The power management change alone could be enough to spell the difference between passable background tasking, and one that completely sinks the battery. Same could hold true for RAM.
Even if you choose to refute those items above though, there's still a compelling argument made for sunsetting older devices over time so that the platform can evolve and new features can be supported incrementally. Let's face facts here: 3.1.2 lags pretty badly on the iPhone 3G compared to the 3GS, and people have been noticing the slowdowns since even the 2.x days. It could very well be that even the 3G will perform horridly on OS 4.0 software and the 3GS will perform only semi-decently on it. Still there has to be a balance struck. Apple probably sees the potential backlash in saying "sorry, 3G owners are outta luck." But it would be seen as less-unacceptable to retire support for the original device and giving 3G owners a pass this time, while still signalling that the days for support on their devices are numbered, too.
Personally, I'm quite happy the way Apple has done supported their devices. They could've done what many other vendors did in the past: released awesome new versions of their OS but said starting with 2.0, "sorry, to get ANY of this, you need to buy the new hardware." Palm, the WinMo vendors, and even some Android Vendors do this regularly and at product cycles way faster than Apple's, and yet less of a stink is put up when they do it than the flack you seem to be giving Apple for merely being rumored as finally putting the original iPhone to bed.