The Competition: Android and Windows Mobile Remind Us Not to Take Future iPhone Updates for Granted?
Apple introduced the original iPhone 2G and 1.0 software in 2007. In 2008 that same hardware received the iPhone 2.0 update. This year, that same hardware again received the iPhone 3.0 update. A few quibbles about hardware specific lapses aside (video, MMS, A2DP), Apple has provided an unprecedented level of free updates to previous generation devices.
In a post-iPhone smartphone landscape, we’ve pretty much come to take these free updates for granted, and it’s hard to remember the old days when other manufacturers basically treated their older models as abandonware. We’ve even come to take them for granted on other platforms like Android’s 1.5 Cupcake and Palm’s webOS 1.1 update.
Our sibling sites remind us, however, that maybe we’ll all face a rude awakening one day.
First up, Android Central reports on the ongoing “will they or won’t they” confusion over whether the first Android device, the less than one year old T-Mobile G1, has enough storage to even be able to load future updates like Donut or Eclair (best. codenames. ever.).
Meanwhile, WMExperts takes us down the long and winding path of whether or not yet-to-be-released Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will be upgradable to yetter-to-be-released Windows Mobile 7 at some point (which will be built on a newer version of the WinCE platform).
Again, iPhone 2G owners — we at TiPb included — have enjoyed 2.0 and 3.0 updates over 2 years, maybe 4.0 will work to some degree or another in 2010, but we have to think at some point Apple will break compatibility with the original iPhone and when that happens — how will users react? “Thanks for all the updates” or “you @$$#0!3$!”?
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apple will eventually break compatibility with the devices we currently own, and that will be okay so long as the reasons are legitimate technical ones.
apple has also been very good about improving the performance and decreasing the size of OS X lately. i hope the same is true with the OS X derived iPhone OS.
Haven’t Apple said updates for 2 years?
I think that Apple will fully support its iPhones for two years. They basically said that the iPhone 2G could do some of the advanced features of 3.0 but they didn’t want to spend the time to write the software. I’m guessing that by software 4.0, they will reduce support even further on the 2G and begin to taper support of the 3G. Most people will upgrade after two years anyway I would think.
I’m sure most normal tech savy iPhone owner will update every two years. I know most people who update their iPods in one accord every year. It shouldn’t be that bad. I mean come on?! Remember OS 1.0? Look how far it is come.
99$ iPhone 3g is a cheap upgrade for the 2g owners right now. And next year I bet the 3gs will be 99$ apple doesn’t make it too difficult to upgrade after a two year contract.
Last point, it’s the tech world. We all know that technology is like dog years compared to everything else we own.
If I can have a phone for 2 years with a significant software update right in the middle I am cool with that
holding strong with my 3G getting the next gen for sure
The quibble about MMS is that it is not a hardware specific lapse. MMS is just a differently encoded message format, one jailbroken first gen iPhones have been able to send and receive for over a year. If it was a hardware issue, jailbroken MMS packages would at least need to provide different versions for 1G vs 2G iPhones; they do not. The same software works for MMS on both 1G and 2G iPhones. If Apple finds an insoluble hardware problem where multiple small indy developers find none, then Apple is either grossly incompetent, or not entirely truthful. I for one do not believe Apple is incompetent.
That said, I do not care at all about MMS as a feature, and Apple is certainly breaking no promise here to 1G owners; but I find irksome Apple’s transparent deception in trying to lump it in with Stereo bluetooth or GPS, things which are legitimate hardware issues.
MMS aside, I agree that Apple has been excellent about updates for the iPhone. They certainly have the right to break backwards compatibility whenever they choose, unless they specified somewhere (as frog guesses) that updates will come for X years. I would love to see them issue some sort of javadoc-style @deprecation warning a release or two before a given generation goes unsupported, but that is entirely at their discretion.
I like to have the newest stuff. I just plan on upgrading every year. works for me.
That’s a good point, they have been really good with updates, a perk we get for them having their device on lock
It’s just necessary in business to make products obsolete after a certain period. I don’t blame Apple for stripping features from the original iPhone. In my opinion, 1st gen iPhone owners should be glad the can even install 3.0. If they were to provide lifetime support and software updates, they would have to charge you more for the phone in the beginning.
Apple has been good about updates because they have a continuing revenue stream per their contract with ATT (and probably others).
Its not clear that other carriers are happy with these arrangements. Its not leading to more profit for those carriers.
So Apple might charge for updates. If I had to pay 5 bucks, that would be fine. If I had to pay 10, well, not so fine.
Apple will eventually break compatibility with older iPhones the same way the upcoming Snow Leopard breaks compatibility with PPC Macs. They can’t support old hardware forever, it just isn’t feasable.
I anticipate that the early architecture of the iPhone will eventually be exceeded..and future releases of the iPhone OS will not be able to be installed on the device…
…..but realize that this will be a minor problem because most of the early devices will be replaced anyway….due to damage or battery life….
I for one think that the OS will updates will not make our current (and even 1st gen iPhone) obsolete. Look at Snow Leopard. Same as Leopard, but more efficient.
What is the iPhone OS? A stripped version of OSX! Which logically indicates that the next OS upgrade will based on a stripped version of OS Snow Leopard. Which will probably make things easier on the 1st gen phones.
At least this is what I think. It would make zero sense to overhaul the OS for a new piece of hardware with the next iPhone. The OS works, they will probably just make it work with the hardware. If the hardware is so different on the new phones next year, they might offer an option to install several versions of the update, one for the old phones/ipods and one for the new ones.
We’ll see, we’ll see.
Ok, MMS is possible on iPhone 2Gs, but for all you people saying that it can BECAUSE of SwirlyMMS, you are 100% WRONG!!!! Swirlymms uploads your pictures to their servers, which then sends them out.
Thanks for the information. But I believe there is no competition for iPhone
I think Apple is doing good business by offering free updates, especially for the original iPhone. Future updates may not be as beneficial for Apple. The two/three year time frame makes sense for them.
What doesn’t make sense: Original iPhone owners who are in the less than ideal position of waiting on AT&T to make an upgrade beneficial. There are those out there stuck in between the option to upgrade to brand new hardware and waiting on a carrier that does not make all those brand new hardware features work. It’s a race against the clock, really.
What if you live in an area without 3G? Are you supposed to upgrade and pay a higher monthly fee for services that are not even available? Or are you supposed to hang on to a phone that will eventually be excluded from further updates?
@iSkythe
True enough on the sending side. The problem (well, it would be, if I cared about MMS
)is that Apple lumps MMS, something it appears they do not want to do, in with other elements that are clearly impossible on that hardware — the Stereo Bluetooth/GPS.
The only challenge with sending/receiving MMS is in encoding/decoding the media within the rest of the message. The case for MMS being hardware dependent would be if a) encoding for MMS is vastly more complex than encoding a MIME email attachment, and b) the first-gen iPhone’s processor is too slow to perform the task acceptably by Apple’s standards. Even then, that first-gen iPhone would not be be incapable of MMS, it just would be slower than the 3GS, or the 3G, just like any other function. Even if the speed was drastically below that of email attachments, and only in the neighborhood of older “dumb” phones, I would think 99.99% of customers would prefer having slow MMS to no MMS and that awkward AT&T website link. But again, I do not care about MMS specifically — I just want Apple/AT&T to be clear on what things can and cannot work, and why, when asked in the press.
Back to the main topic — Apple will have to break backward compatibility significantly someday, and on that day those on the wrong side of that divide will kvetch. When they do, how Apple does it — being up-front about what/why will and will not be supported, warnings about when things go end-of-life — will be as important to how customers on the old side react as the when. Perceived bad faith there could turn those people to other phones, just as good faith can encourage them to buy an upgrade. Hopefully, when the time comes Apple to make clean breaks, they will offer us both transparency in their reasoning and juicy new models to purchase as upgrades.
What would you guys say is the worst firmware update out of all of them?
I’d have to say 2.0. It brought the most features to the table but everytime I restarted my phone or installed an app I’d fear the Apple logo of Death.
As a 3G user then I say 3.0. Slowed performance, especially when filling forms in safari. Messages takes forever to open compared to before 3.0.
What has it given me? Push is useful and as a UK user MMS is handy.
Overall a pretty average update. Can’t wait for 3.1 to speed things up again.
2.0 was pretty sketchy lol
Come on 3.1. I can’t wait for that. And I agree with Gregg up there, I like the newest stuff so I get it. Regardless. I had a 2G, touch pro, a 3g, a bb bold, then a white 3g, and now my beautiful black beauty [s]. so I keep up regardless.
I’d be surprised if any of my crappy apple products lasted much past their warranty expiry, so future updates is the last thing on my mind.
@Phil I think you have this thread mistaken for a MS thread lol obviously you aren’t even an iPhone/Mac user.
@iSkythe:
That is not true. Swirly is a complete interpretation of MMS that does not rely on any servers at their premises.
The way I understood it, there are apps in Cydia enabling the built-in MMS functionality in 3.0 on 2G iPhones. This would have nothing to do with Swirly. It indicates though that even Apple’s code does indeed work on the 2G.
I think that Apple will start to charge like the iPod touch as those people are no longer on contracts, they cant make it incompatible as that makes apps incompatible but I think there’ll be more and more features exclusive for 3GS as seen by the 3.1 update.
Its not fair not to offer the choice saying it can still run same software now, but last time in march at 3.0 update event they said as a special bonus 2G users can upgrade for free, so it will be paid.
@Elric: My daughters shuffle is missing from this pic http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v341/gronk62/crapple1.jpg
All except for the iPod touch have issues
I think the time when the OS compatibility gulf is widened is next year when the “real” next generation iPhone comes out. I believe that model will not only be designed differently, it’s processor will be so far removed from even the 3GS that even though older apps may be able to run on it, newer apps created for it will only work on that specific model. This is the time when I believe new apps created will no longer support the first generation iPhone.
Also, fassy,
Please don’t refer to the iPhones as 1G and 2G; that confuses those who have the 3G iPhone.
I agree with everyone’s comments regarding the Apple providing upgrades for two years.
However, I think this article misses a significant difference Between Android/Windows Mobile and the iPhone / Pre. Apple and Palm make their hardware and Google/Microsoft don’t. This plays a signifiant role in the frequency of updates and how long updates will continue to be provided for a certain model of phone.
I think you have issues, Phil. Kidding! I just had to jab you once…
Don’t know about the rest of you out there but the iPhone is the most amazing thing I’ve ever owned. I thought this at 2G V1.0 so the fact that the updates have been free and flawless I think is truly stunning. The almost 100% reliability of all the functions (although not the compass!!) has been a revelation since I upgraded from multiple buggy, unintuitive and unergonomic phones from the past. If we get any more free updates with extra features I’ll be blown away.
Most people will probably upgrade in 2 years anyway, when their contracts expire. http://www.computersncs.com/rd_p?p=191273&t=9544&a=29670-theiphoneblog&gift=29670
I think backward capability will exist to some degree (i.e. 1st gen iPhone won’t just stop working altogether) but some newer improvements will only work on the newer models.
I beleive the last update to the 2g will be next year as the contracts for most of the people outside the US will expire.
I’m from the future, and I’m speaking this post with the iPhone Xtreme 3D running OS 8.1.
Sorry, but I seem to remember that the original iPhone didn’t run OS 4.0.
@gassy:
The first gen iPhone and the 3G have the same processor running at the same speed.
Just FYI.
what network will next years iPhone run on? I heard there may not be a new launch next year from somebody who works at AT&T.
I don’t know though, I’ve been thinking and whether or not they choose to bump the specs in next years model I think I’m perfectly fine with the speed of the 3gs. what other hardware functionality can they add anyway?
I dont see them ever stopping with the free updates, but i do think that the incompatibility thing is inevitable. Hopefully people haven’t forgotten that the iPod video has already met this fate, what i mean is that it can’t update to the iPod classic firmware . . . though im almost certain that one isn’t a hardware limitation issue.
MMS is working everywhere else in the world except on the AT&T network in the US. Don’t think it’s Apple’s fault. They are probably contractually obliged to let AT&T drag their feet.
This is whats what, Apple will continue making updates and will eventually exclude older models as the 3.0 software has already dont to the 2g Iphone,The updates will continue to be free seeing as apples software seems to be buggy at some points and they are trying to compete with their competion such as pre and blackberry so whenever a new phone comes out or a new phone gets a new features well its always an update away. I mean 3.0 pretty much sounded like a consiracy to me a 3gs owner. When apple first came out with the iphone it was competing other iphones but the iphone was considerd to be the world changithird year ng revolutionary phone so apple kepy it simple, the follwing year they started to lose sales on a such a basic phone that couldnt do anything, hence the invention of iphone 2.0 where people are now making apps for the iphone and letting the iphone pretty much do what ever the heck it wants, the third year palm begins making the pre while google makes teh android, both phones have advance features and so who would want an iphone when compared to google android and palm pre the iphone looks like a piece of junk since it couldnt do anything so Apple decides to make 3.0 in order to keep people wanting the iphone,