The original article is written by a software developer and for me the topmost comment used the term developer meaning 'software developer'. Maybe a problem of

The original article is written by a software developer and for me the topmost comment used the term developer meaning 'software developer'. Maybe a problem of language, but I have never seen the word developer used to describe a hardware manufacturer. From the standpoint of hardware I definitely agree that it should not be made with a 2-3 year lifespan in mind, especially because of the toll it takes on the environment. > This is why developers use advertising, in-app purchases and subscriptions, or releasing major versions as new apps. None of these are a good replacement because they do not solve the problem. If you wish to have an old version of the app available for users which did not update the only option is releasing a new app but then you can not give a discount to old clients. In app purchases and subscriptions pull everybody into the release cycle. The current status quo is not good but from the software perspective I do not know how it could change. The prices were pulled down so far that supporting old platforms is not sustainable, unless you are one of those companies which get their money somewhere else.