This got better when iOS 6 got jailbroken, but it's still an annoying forced obsolescence. The reason they did it this way is unclear as well.
Compared to later models, their share of the total iOS devices sold is very low. About 30 million iPhones of the first two generations were sold. About 20 million iPods touch of the first two generations were sold. Out of 550 million total iOS devices, that’s under 10 percent. And of course, many of those older iPhones and iPods touch are not in use anymore.
Either way, many people with older devices choose to keep them on older OS versions for precisely this reason, so it will be an issue for some.
http://stats.unity3d.com/mobile/index-ios.html (Below iOS 5/Other: 1.2%) http://david-smith.org/iosversionstats/ (4.3: 1.6%) https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/ios_frag/
iPhone 5 requires Xcode 4.6, which doesn't allow to build apps for iOS < 4.3.
Apple isn't good about keeping its build tools compatible with older editions of OS/X or of IOS. It's a little tough for them since their systems are built to last for so long with better hardware components.
If it weren't for that irony, the iP5 requirement probably would have gone into effect the day the iP5 was released.
I’d say it’s good change. Within 2 months of when the iPhone 5 was released, about half of the apps I use most had received updates that optmized for the larger screen. After 7 months though, the remaining apps still haven’t been optimized, even though many of those apps did receive updates in the meantime. As of May 1st, a developer can’t just post a bugfix without also optimizing for all the different iPhone screens.
[1] http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/21/apple-will-no-longer-app...
That would have been a nightmare. A lot of apps would need to redesign UI's and create new graphics. Let's say it took 2-3 weeks to get all that created, working, and tested. What if they had some urgent bugs they needed fixed before then? Or developers who didn't manage to get the device on launch day and had to wait a few weeks. Are they supposed to release updates which include iPhone 5 support having only tested the iPhone 5 portion in the simulator?
