The original iPhone which started it all is no longer to be officially supported by Apple.
The revelation, discovered via internal documents unearthed by 9to5Mac, means the Cupertino phone-maker will not provide repairs, replacement parts or documentation for the very first iPhone.
While some may recoil in horror at the idea, it had to come sooner or later. The iPhone is now six years old, having first arrived in 2007, and it’s not in Apple’s interest to support obsolete models forever. The company’s current product portfolio extends as far as the iPhone 4 but it is still supporting the iPhone 3GS.
According to the documents the iPhone will be declared ‘obsolete’ from June 11 this year, after which point it will be defined as ‘vintage’. Apple’s support site reveals the company considers any product vintage if it was ‘discontinued more than five and less than seven years ago,’ after which point support is withdrawn as a rule.
There are some exceptions to the rule but these apply to Mac computers and iPods bought by people in California.
However, after seven years the product stops being ‘vintage’ and becomes ‘obsolete’ which means there’s absolutely zero support from Apple for it.
Frankly, if we’re honest, the iPhone is long overdue being taken out of the harbour and scuppered, it’s a pre-3G handset which ran on EDGE connectivity, had at most 16GB of storage and the App Store didn’t even exist when it debuted.
Assuming Apple’s policy sticks this means that 2014 will see the iPhone 3G becoming obsolete, followed by the iPhone 3GS in 2015. By 2016 the iPhone 4 will also be obsolete.
If you start thinking of the passage of time in terms of iPhone obsolescence things get a bit too real though. So enough of that nonsense.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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