That doesn't change the fact that people who bought a 3GS 2.5 years ago are still getting significant updates to the hardware. Really, what better way is there

That doesn't change the fact that people who bought a 3GS 2.5 years ago are still getting significant updates to the hardware. Really, what better way is there to support a product than continue selling it? If you want to look at the other options out there, Android is doing a terrible job. A number of Android phones don't even ship with the most recent version of the OS and some never see updates at all. It's getting better, but it's far from great.