ios 6 not compatible for ipad 1?, ios 6 not compatible for ipad 1?

"News flash! In the world of technology, products very quickly are replaced by bigger, better ones in the flash of an eye. Does this mean Apple sends a beam from a satellite rendering all older products unusable? Of course not! Older devices will continue to work just fine. "

I beg to differ. I have a well functionable IPAD1 that, in fact, is virtually unblemished and has a completely intact screen with no scratches or cracks. I would add that, for some reason, several IPAD2 that I know of are all broken and cracked... Apple will not replace the glass on the screens. They just toss them asside as garbage and charge for replacements. That is beside the point.

My IPAD is showing that there are 33 apps that are all waiting to upload revisions or updates. All to upgrade to IOS 6. Some of them very important to me. As I learned with the 5.1 updates, some apps stopped working right unless I upgraded. Now, I have, at least, one app that has stopped working. The fix that is recommended is to upgrade to IOS 6 and reinstall the app. Well, it seems that I now can't do that. It appears that it won't be long before this product is nothing more than a paper weight. I am going to be FORCED to spend more money on another one. To me, that DOES mean that this OLDER DEVICE will NOT continue to work just fine.

You may be correct that they don't beam down a signal from a satellite and render the products useless. But, it is clear that they abandon their older products and do render them useless, through lack of support, as they drag all the software developers behind them into the world of not supporting older versions of software. As more of my apps are no longer supported, so too will my ipad NOT continue to work just fine. Also, there to goes my TV who's Remote app does not work anymore. They upgraded the software in June and ever since, it no longer functions. In this day and age of Green thinking, it is a shame how many computers and IPADS, and phones and other devices are just tossed asside, even when they, mechanically, are capbable of working "Just Fine" only because the manufacturers and software developers have ABANDONED THEM. In this age where an item so revolutionary and valuable as the IPAD, has grown to be so integrated in almost everything we do, from Banking, Emails, Social Networking, Entertainment and Games... and even the automation and control of many other items in our homes.... Car Alarms, Home Security Systems, TV's and Stereos... Now, all those functions in a person's life and home are rendered inoperable, inaccessable and useless. Unless they buy the new version of the product.

So, where does that leave us. Slaves to the apple. Where, in order to continue our functioning, we will have to shell out hundreds of dollars for the newest IPAD, IPHONE, IPOD, IMAC, MACBOOK... in order to keep things going. Old products WILL end up in land fills... And for how long will our new devices be useful before we have to buy another. Not because they can't function but only because the manufacturer will not support them. IPAD 4 is coming out. Only after how many months of the IPAD 3 which came out after how many months of the IPAD 2. My IPAD 1 can't be much more than 3 years old and is now on the road to being obsolete and useless. Not because it is not working but only because the software is being abandoned.

One last thought. As I am typing, I see another post right above this screen where a writer says

"If this was any other device, it would have stopped being supported over a year ago. Be glad Apple took care of you for this long. The original iPad was a device that shipped with iOS freaking THREE on it. It's ALMOST 3 years old!!

It would be nice to have it get iOS 6, but apple has to sto somewhere. It's done, it's not supported, deal with it or forego apple and go to another company that I GUARANTEE you won't support their mobile device for nearly as long."

I ask, Can you say with certainty that the reason that the software is not being supported for the IPAD 1 because some difference in the architecture or operation of the old device that would make it incompatable? Or, could it be that Apple, chooses not to support perfectly functioning older devices because they know that they can force consumers to shell out cash and buy new items because of the growing dependency or prestige of them. I have friends who, religiously, grab the phone and sit for hours on the line to order the newest IPHONE when it comes out. Because their old one is broken or getting beat up and not working? NO. Becuase they HAVE to have the newest coolest hottest phone out there. We are all sheep and they are dragging us along.

Honestly I don't know the answer to the technical issue but I do find it hard to believe that it has to do with incompatability. Maybe I am synical but I think it has to do with greed and a plan for obselessence. Now, I have to go out and buy 2 new IPADS. One to replace my IPAD 1 and another to replace the broken screen on the IPAD 2 that I mentioned earlier. That is another issue that bites me about APPLE and their IPADS, IPODS and IPHONES. You can't replace a battery, broken switch or a cracked screen. You have to replace the whole product and dispose of the old. WASTE!

@ doiwjeoriehorwierwoih

Thank you for your report.

Just what can we do?

It may sound like it from my rambling but I am not as bitter as it sounds. Just confused and concerned at how much waste comes about from this. And the burden of the cost of replacement.... Appearently useful items just cast asside for little or no technical reason. Items that could be repaired but can't only because Apple won't supply parts to service centers. Ie., batteries and screens. Even though, I see Youtube videos that show people opening IPADS and IPODS and replacing the batteries and screens, Apple does not approve or condone it. It doesn't appear that complicated for someone with the right knowhow and tools. It is cheaper, or should I say more PROFITABLE, for Apple to throw away the old product and sell you a new one. Even if they replace your IPAD at Cost, in exchange for the broken one.

As for the IOS and apps, As others have said, if there were only a basic upgrade that would allow the upgrade of the apps to continue to function. Things that we rely on like our banking or remote controls or home automation... People invest a lot of money in choices because there are apps available that can make their lives easier. Whether security systems or cameras, baby monitors, TVs and Stereos... Now to continue to use all that, they will find themselves having to shell out more money to replace the IPHONE or IPAD... Maybe Software or App developers should keep the last versions available for those who find themselves stuck when the upgrade doesn't work. If I could go back and reinstall the version of the app that last worked...

In my case, my doom with the TV may have been upgrading the app to a newer version. It worked fine before but now it doesn't. I have no way, that I know of, to go back to a happier time. Now, I can't upgrade the iPad to work with it and I don't seem to have the option to restore the problem apps to older versions.

There is one other factor that I noticed as I continued to read on the subject. Security Updates or Crash and other technical updates. That is where I ran into the problem with the 5.1.1. Many apps were being updated to fix bugs and close security holes. THOSE updates were bundled with compatability with 5.1.1. In order to repair security issues or bugs, I had to upgrade the apps. The apps wouldn't update and I couldn't without upgrading to 5.1.1. Now, with 33 updates pending, many of those list Bug Fixes and Securty Issues... If I select Update All, I know I am going to get a number of them that can't be updated because I don't have IOS6. Those that do update, Will they continue to operate or will they be toast like the TV Remote is.

I don't know what the answer is. Pleas with the app developers to continue to offer older versions. Appeal to Apple to continue to provide support and function to the existing equipment. At least in a basic version that will maintain a status quo among what is currently installed and prevent anything from being changed from it's current functionality.

But then, there will be issues like I found with my Mac Comptuers at work. All had old OSX versions and, Google Chrome and Firefox, among other programs stopped operating and would not support upgrades. Other internet services then wouldn't work because they required updated Browsers. The browsers couldn't be updated because the OS wasn't up to date. As I looked to update OS I found to go to Lion I had to first upgrade to Snow Leopard. for the OSX Snow leopard, I found that I was barely able to find that as APPLE has recently phased out offering it. 2 of the comptuers are too slow or don't have enough ram to even accept that. So, I anknowlege that it is inevitable that things do become obsolete. I just can't believe that with the condition of my IPAD and all, that there isn't somehthing that Apple can do to fix this. We aren't talking a computer that is 4 and 5 years old like the ones I mention above. This IPAD was bought first day of issue in 2010? that would be less than 3 years old. Doesn't seem to be reasonable for the life expectency of an $800 (US) item. I did plan to upgrade soon but was hoping that I could get a little more time out of this one. But, Now that apps are starting to not work and can't be upgraded and that my browser (Safari) keeps crashing on me....

What can be done?

@ doiwjeoriehorwierwoih

I made my choice about 8 months after I got my iPad, and my first experience with Apple phone support.

"Just buy more apple hardware, it's *more* compatable" wasn't exactly the answer I wanted to hear that day.

These days it sits on the nightstand for reading before bed. I've got a "less restricted" tablet for carrying around. I convinced my wife to trade in her phone for one with a less restricted OS as well.

Sure some apps are inferior. But some are superior. It all balances out and the more people who stop drinking the kool aid, the better it will be.

Well said... this is an appropriate reaction. As a business person, it is difficult for me to listen to the Apple apologist telling us that lack of support of iOS 6 on the original iPad doesn't represent a serious customer focus issue on the part of Apple. The appologists continue to state that we simple "don't get it." Perhaps, they all have made some absurd Faustian bargain with Apple, and that is blinding them as consumers.

Apple. It's very simple. You have the support lifetime of your products wrong. Your business model is flawed. You should continue to support operating system upgrades to your older systems according based on customer retention and lifetime value, not on whether you are continuing to retail a particular item. The lifetime value of a long-term loyal iPad customer to Apple is greatly reduced by moves such as this. As, likely, will be your market-share and long-term profitability. Trading off customer loyalty in pursuit of short-term quarterly profits when new competitors are aggressively making market entry is rarely a good idea. Treat us like the valued customers that we are!

Apple has a serious flaw in their customer focus and support policy.

As a business person, it is difficult for me to listen to the Apple apologist telling us that lack of support of iOS 6 on the original iPad doesn't represent a serious customer focus issue on the part of Apple. The apologists continue to state that we simple "don't get it." Perhaps, they all have made some absurd Faustian bargain with Apple, and that is blinding them as consumers.

Apple. It's very simple. You have the support lifetime of your products wrong. Your business model is flawed. You should continue to support operating system upgrades to your older systems according based on customer retention and lifetime value, not on whether you are continuing to retail a particular item. The lifetime value of a long-term loyal iPad customer to Apple is greatly reduced by moves such as this. As, likely, will be your market-share and long-term profitability. Trading off customer loyalty in pursuit of short-term quarterly profits when new competitors are aggressively making market entry is rarely a good idea. Treat us like the valued customers that we are!

Seems like a lot of us are unhappy.

Sure, we would all love infinite software support from Apple. But this is reality...no one else out there supports their products that long. Infact, compare Apple to the rest of the competition, you are in luck. Name a single other tablet running a mobile OS that's got more than 2 years of OS support? I doubt you could name any.

Compared to the rest of the competitors, Apple's got the best software support...if support is all you want, you either have an iPad, or you drop mobile OS's completely, and switch to Mac or PC.

What does it mean at the top of this page that it has been branched to a new discussion, and when I try to follow the link, I am unauthorized?

Same here!

Yet, my iPhone 3GS is still supported. Hmmm.... go figure.

It's hilarious to me that you compare it to another product by Apple. And it's a phone. I told you to find any other TABLET out there with more than 2 years support. Seeing that you couldn't find any, you brought up the example of the 3GS, which is now called by many to be the longest ever supported modern smartphone.

We are discussing Apple's choice to end-of-life operating system support for the original iPad after only two years. An item that, given its economic life (depreciation), one should expect to be in service for at least three years, or more. Obviously, it is not a hardware issue, since a device with similar, but lesser capabilities, the iPhone 3GS is still supported.

Can I expect this kind of behavior in the future from Apple again in the future? Your answer is that I would be a fool to expect more of Apple if I were to upgrade to a newer iPad.

Your response was very disrespectful (e.g. - "hillarious to me" (sic)). You seem to be missing the whole point, that customer's deserve more from their vendors. If there is any value in your responses, their pejorative nature clouded out any value they may have contained.

Yes, I am disappointed to have my iPad hit end-of-life in only two years. I feel injured, and now you have managed to add insult. Thank you for contributing and supporting us all most pleasantly. You have a nice day, too.

Way unhappy with apple. I've taken good care of my ipad 1, it still works great now I'm not so sure that I'll trust it with anything secure (ie banking, email, etc...). This ipad is 28 months old. seriously apple? Was already planning on picking up an ipad 3, but now I'm wondering. Does this mean that I only have a year to use it before it becomes unsupported? Seriously!

Look, we live in a capitalistic society. You can't "expect" a company to support their device for more than 2 years when it's competitors barely do even a year. By supporting the iPad for just over 2 years might seem low to you, but in the market, what's out there, its the best you can get. What more can you ask?

You say the 3GS has lesser capabilities, but in reality, the 3GS is actually more capable hardware wise, especially in terms of ram. I said this previously in a post earlier in this thread :

"

The iPad has an A4 chip, coupled with the same graphics card that is shared with both the 3GS and iPhone 4. The A4 chip is basically a Cortex-A8, repackaged differently. So it isn't much of a performance improvement. Also, the iPad has an even higher resolution than the iPhone 4, so that graphics card is under much higher stress than what is going inside the 3GS. The 3GS has the best of both worlds, powering a low-graphics screen, with a highly-capable graphics card. Because the 3GS and the iPhone 4 share the same graphics card, the 3GS is actually faster than the 4 in graphic intensive games.

But the main killer is RAM, if the chipset argument isn't good enough. The iPad has a mere 256 mb of ram while the iPhone 4 has 512. The 3GS also has 256, but it's display has 4 times less pixels, so applications use less ram. The 3GS thus has adequate RAM to sustain itself (although it is still seemingly tight at times), but the iPad simply doesn't have enough RAM. Infact, at launch, some reviewers noticed the iPad's inability to be able to keep Safari webpages saved in memory, simply because it didn't have enough RAM.

So while it might seem that the iPad's internals are powerful, for a tablet, the chipset and RAM is weak, and is suitable only for a low-end smartphone like the 3GS. The argument that the iPad can't sustain iOS 6 due to hardware seems legit to me, especially as a developer. While I may not be the best developer in the world, I try to do a good job in optimizing my apps, and even then, on my tester iPad running iOS 5, it always seems to be the first device (alongside the iPod touch 4th gen, another device with a high resolution, and only 256 mb of ram) that gets a low memory warning."

The iPad is underpowered, behind it's time in hardware. The 3GS is also behind, but not as badly as the iPad.

I apologize for any offensive comments from my part, but I urge you to take a look outside of Apple, and see what others are doing, and then you will feel a lot better.

I myself am an original iPad owner, now owning an iPad 2. If I feel the need to (probably won't) I will buy the newest iPad (iPad 4? lol) . I urge you to upgrade your iPad to iPad 2, which is now just 399 (even less used). It will definitely see iOS 7, and will continue to perform strongly, since it's processor architecture is very powerful, comparable to the iPad 3, and iPhone 4S.