News January 23, 2010

January 27 Is Almost Here… Let The Whining Begin!!

Yes, it is the most wonderful time of year. It’s cold and gray. The trees have no leaves. It feels like spring will never be here. And Apple continues to amaze us with their ability to control the entire technology rumor mill without even opening up their mouths. Yes, all will be revealed on Wednesday (okay maybe not all), but then we will have to wait months to actually get our hands on whatever it is that Steve Jobs & Co. will be announcing. Cold, gray, and requiring delayed gratification — I hate this time of year.

I’m not going to venture any guesses as to what the tablet will or will not be except for this –

Everyone is wrong.

Everyone may have one or two aspects of the tablet right (they may even have seven or eight things right) but no one prediction is actually accurate. And while this won’t stop everyone and his mother from putting forth their guesses that’s what they are — guesses. The one thing that is for sure is that there will be some surprises come Wednesday’s announcement. The one thing that is for sure is that the tablet (if it is announced) will NOT be JUST a big iPod touch.

There is something else that is certain. If, as the rumors suggest, it is announced that iPhone OS 4.0 will drop support for the original iPhone, people are going to whine and bitch and moan. And when they do they will simply be making fools of themselves because dropping support for the original iPhone… makes perfect sense.

Think about it — the original iPhone was a huge leap forward but it was already behind the times when it came to functionality (remember, it was designed to rely on Web applications not third-party resident applications), it only included EDGE speed data connectivity, and the phone itself was relatively weak compared to other phones in the marketplace. We loved it, but it was limited.

When iPhone OS 2.0 was released Apple allowed original iPhone owners to upgrade for free. It transformed the original phone into something entirely new. When iPhone OS 3.0 was released Apple did the same thing for owners of both the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. (At the same time, Apple required iPod touch owners to pay a nominal fee for the upgrade and people whined. Give me a break.) The most recent upgrade was clearly incremental, and there were portions that clearly would not work properly on the original iPhone. As a result some functionality was not turned on for earlier devices.

The current operating system is designed for a much more powerful phone than the original iPhone. The current OS is designed for THIS phone not the original one. This gap will become far greater with the next release… especially it is allows some apps to run in the background. Yes, OS 3.0 works on the iPhone Classic but time has moved on in the iPhone is an entirely different device now than it was a few years ago. The original hardware just isn’t up to speed- literally. At some point the advances in the operating system are so significant that any attempt to support the oldest legacy devices will either require an intentional crippling of the operating system or will cause lags and other issues on the hardware. At some point support for legacy devices needs to end, and this seems like a logical point to leave the original iPhone behind.

So if you are using an original iPhone, when you’re not able to upgrade to the new operating system please keep this in mind — when you bought the phone you bought the hardware and the operating system as it stood at that time. Apple was under no obligation to allow you to upgrade to iPhone OS 2.0 or to iPhone OS 3.0. You bought the hardware and the operating system at that time, and Apple didn’t promise- or owe- any sort of upgrade beyond bug fixes. Being able to upgrade to the second and the third operating system was a gift that the (rarely beneficent) company in Cupertino gave you (relatively) freely.

Technology moves on, and the original iPhone is soon to be a dinosaur. It’s a great machine if you want to use it as an iPod touch or as the phone that was originally designed, but remember this — the original iPhone was designed to make calls, be an iPod, and go on the web. It wasn’t the pocket computer the iPhone is today. If you want that phone, then buy the new iPhone when it’s released this spring. But please… don’t whine, your original iPhone has served you well. It, and Apple, owe you nothing.

Tags: Apple iPhone, Rumors and Speculation, Ultra Portable Tablets

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About Dan Cohen

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Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”) Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.

http://www.geardiary.com Douglas Moran

Early adopters have to pay a price for being on the bleeding edge. I paid it gladly with the iPhone, but most devices, I don’t want to pay that price and take that chance. People whinging about it, though, really annoy me.
Joel McLaughlin

I disagree about the touch owners whining. They have a right to. Why should the iPhone get their update and not iPod Touch owners?? Why must the touch owner pay to get it? It was unprecedented when it came to anything iPod. It’s the first time they charged for a firmware update if anything with the iPod name attached to it. I remember classic iPods getting firmware update pretty regularly but now its hardly ever updated. Sure there’s the occasional bug fix they do issue, but they don’t add new functionality to iPods and iPod Nanos. I guess iPod Touch owners can feel lucky they at least get an option to pay. iPod owners don’t. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the iPod Classic axed and maybe even the Nano.

As for the tablet rumors….I have a prediction….everyone is wrong. Those 10 inch screens aren’t for a iPhone like device. They are for a netbook device running Mac OS X and it may or may not have a touch screen. Apple will give in and call netbooks the future which will totally contradict what they have said before about netbooks.
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Dan Cohen

“Why should the iPhone get their update and not iPod Touch owners?”
My understanding is that there is some sort of profit-sharing in place for the iPhone where Apple gets continued income after the initial sale while the touch does not.

“It was unprecedented when it came to anything iPod.”
I don’t think you can use an iPod classic firmware update as a measuring stick. Those updates didn’t add the major new functionality that the OS iPhone updates gave. Whole different story.

“As for the tablet rumors….I have a prediction….everyone is wrong. Those 10 inch screens aren’t for a iPhone like device. They are for a netbook device running Mac OS X and it may or may not have a touch screen.”
I have a prediction… you are totally wrong! And I say this for no reason greater than this… with OS iPhone apps Apple has seen a HUGE new market and profit center via apps. If the tablet runs OS X they don’t get the revenue or the control. By putting OS iPhone or something close to it on the tablet they get both. Apple is not about to cut off such a HUGE potential revenue source.
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http://www.geardiary.com Carly Z

There’s an accounting principle where you can either recognize profits all at once for a device (like Apple does with the iPod Touch) or over time (which they do with the iPhone due to the subsidy deals with AT&T). There’s a weird side effect to that where, because Apple is recognizing ongoing value, they can provide “material updates” without having to charge a fee…but because they already recognized the value of the Touch sale, they have to charge a fee to even out the residual material value upgrade from a major OS leap.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but that’s accounting; it’s 1/3 common sense, 1/3 tax laws, and 1/3 mystical theory run by wizards.

And to stay on topic: I agree 110% with Dan. Dropping support for the original iPhone is a no-brainer, and since original owners would be more than free for an upgrade at this point it’s not hurting anyone.