A couple weeks ago, we reported that Steve Jobs had quietly stepped out from behind the shadows to send one of his brief, seemingly random email responses to a customer inquiry about whether or not the company would continue “supporting/updating the iPhone 2G in the Future”.
Jobs’ answer, in case you hadn’t heard, was a quick “Sorry, no”, and we were left wondering how many people this might affect. According to an article today in Apple Insider, it could be more than you might have first thought.
According to the article, the number of first-generation iPhones out there that are still in use accounts for a very small percent, but apparently there are a lot of iPhones out there. And before we go any further, let’s just note that the iPhone first generation, the “1G” and the “2G” are all synonymous.
Just 2 percent of all iPhone OS handsets still in use are Apple’s first-generation iPhone, but a new calculation estimates that amounts to nearly 30 percent of the 6.1 million iPhones sold between June 2007 and July 2008.
That means that there are nearly 2 million iPhone 2Gs still out there, in the wild and in use, that will soon be unsupported. While we wouldn’t expect Apple to continue releasing full OS updates for these phones, we would hope they would continue basic support for their customers.
The calculations come from Philip Elmer-DeWitt with CNN Money, who says that, “If 7% of those iPhone 1Gs are driving 2% of AdMob’s Apple traffic, that suggests that nearly one in three is still ticking — and visiting the Web.”
The data comes from advertising firm AdMob’s monthly report, which shows that the iPhone 3GS has become the dominant device among iPhones and iPod Touches.
