Steve Jobs on Support for iPhone 2G: ''Sorry, No.''

By Marcus Yam
published

It's the end of the line for the original iPhone. If it means anything, Steve Jobs says sorry.

Are you still running an original iPhone with its aluminum casing? It's been a worthy companion over the years, hasn't it? Even without 3G or GPS or compass, it still runs nearly everything that the latest iPhone 3GS does – but that's about to come to an end.

An iPhone owner by the name of Niko emailed Steve Jobs about it, and he received a reply from the Apple CEO in a direct fashion with a disappointing response.

The email sent to Steve Jobs read, "Hey Steve! Is Apple supporting/updating the iPhone 2G in the Future?"

Steve Jobs replied, "Sorry, no."

Unless some hackers find a way to force the iPhone OS 4.0 to play nice with the original iPhone model, it could be the end of the line for the very early adopters. It's been a good three year ride though.

Marcus Yam

Marcus Yam is a technology evangelist for Intel Corporation, the latest in a long line of tech-focused roles spanning a more than 20-year career in the industry. As Executive Editor, News on Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, Marcus was responsible for shaping the sites' news output, and he also spent a period as Editor of Outdoors & Sports at Digital Trends.

53 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Way to screw over your customers apple.
    Reply
  • tayb
    Typical Apple but, honestly, how many people are still using the original iPhone? At some point in time you have to cut ties with older hardware because the older hardware is holding back software development on the newer hardware. Microsoft did this with Xbox Live and the original Xbox a couple of months ago. There are obviously vast differences when comparing a console and a mobile phone but the concept still applies. Most companies phase out software updates of older products but Apple is the quickest about it.
    Reply
  • AMW1011
    Another example of why Apple is a terrible company...
    Reply
  • Abrahm
    I can understand the need to phase out older hardware, but 3 years seems a little premature to me, especially since these people shelled out for unsubsidized phones.
    Reply
  • JMS3096
    AMW1011Another example of why Apple is a terrible company...Because they don't support old hardware? Hardware that can be replaced with much newer variations for relatively little money? Do you see HTC providing a Windows Phone 7 update for the Hermes?

    Seriously, stop whining. In the cellular phone market, it's remarkable to see consistent support and updates for as long as 3 years.
    Reply
  • AMW1011
    JMS3096Because they don't support old hardware? Hardware that can be replaced with much newer variations for relatively little money? Do you see HTC providing a Windows Phone 7 update for the Hermes?Seriously, stop whining. In the cellular phone market, it's remarkable to see consistent support and updates for as long as 3 years.
    You still see HTC providing updates to the older Windows Mobile OS, that is the difference.

    Now go away.
    Reply
  • False_Dmitry_II
    And yet my original zune keeps getting more and more features. How old is that thing now?
    Reply
  • Trueno07
    This is like Nintendo's ideals taken to the extreme.
    Reply
  • micr0be
    i sent an email to apple asking them if they still have costumers? .... Steve Jobs replied, "Sorry, no."
    Reply
  • ta152h
    Actually, what's being lost in all of this is that Steve Jobs actually took the time to respond to someone asking a question.

    For someone as famous as he, not to mention he's the CEO of an important company and is likely very busy, to at least respond is pretty impressive, and very unusual.

    I can't run Windows NT derivatives on my original PC, or even PC/AT! I don't think my Pentium has enough memory either. My i815 based Tualatin can't cut it either, since the chipset doesn't support more than 512 MB of memory.

    It's how things are. Apple designed the original iPhone to do what it did at that time. They didn't have the time, and probably wouldn't have had a competitive product if they made it do what they want today (it would have been even more expensive, even if it were possible). So, they probably have the choice of either limiting what their OS could do, or letting go of old hardware support so they could do what they really want. If I were an Apple customer, I'd want the latter.

    I'm not an Apple fan (I only have antique Apples), but, I'm impressed Jobs actually responded, however terse, and I don't think Apple is necessarily doing their customers a disservice by choosing progression over compatibility in this case.
    Reply