The Nillabyte Perspective: Technology

Get your facial tissue ready to catch some heavy tears, chief editor of Mobile-Review Eldar Murtazin tweeted yesterday that the upcoming version of iOS will not be supported on the iPhone 3GS. Gasp!

iOS, which powers Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, will soon be updated to version 5. Thus far, it is mere rumor and speculation as to what iOS 5 will offer as far as new features goes, but anyone who thinks that older models of the i devices should be supported is, in my opinion, delusional. Whenever you buy a piece of hardware, you buy it knowing that at some point, its software will no longer be upgradeable. For example, when Mac OS X Lion is released later this year, only 2 of the 9 Macs in my household will be able to mate with Lion. It's a bummer, but that is the way it goes.

Several in the blogosphere (when did that become a word) and some in tech forums are calling foul. My question is, when Apple released the iPhone 3GS, did they make any promises as to how long it's software will be capable of being upgraded? No. They never did.

Let me preemptively answer your question: no, I don't own an iPhone 3GS, and therefore am not affected by this news rumor. But, I do own a 3rd generation iPod touch, and it will likely be incapable of running iOS 5. It's hardware limitations would likely make iOS 5 useless anyways, as it would be with the iPhone 3GS and older models.

Generally speaking with most gizmos, if you want the latest software, you have to have the latest hardware as well.