4 ms·

When you have a million users, 70,000 of them is a pretty big number to neglect. edit: numbers

rimantas 13y ago
Or other way around, cost to support 7% of your users may be to high to neglect. Sometimes it makes sense to spend that time and effort on the rest 93%.
- buro9 13y ago
  Except that when Apple themselves were the 7% their view on whether you should support that % of the total audience was that, unequivocally, you should.
  - rimantas 13y ago
    Apples and oranges.
hmottestad 13y ago
Neglect might not be the right term. Usually older devices are on older OS because they can't update. If they can update and haven't then it will probably be because they don't know how or because they don't want to. If your app needs features in iOS 6 to run, then so be it. If not then make it runnable on iOS 5 and 4. If your app used to work on iOS 4, but some new features require iOS 5, then your old customers won't get any more updates but should still be able to use the app. Those stuck on iOS 4 wanting to buy your app won't be able to.
gurkendoktor 13y ago
Case in point - iTunes is Apple's only OS X app which still officially supports OS X 10.6. If there's money to be made, Apple suddenly doesn't mind the maintenance :)
Samuel_Michon 13y ago
Part of that 7% are people who choose not to upgrade, they aren’t neglected. iOS 6 runs on devices as old as 4 years. Meanwhile, every day new Android models are launched that come with years old system software and will never see an update.
- smackfu 13y ago
  > iOS 6 runs on devices as old as 4 years. It's an interesting side effect of Apple selling old hardware as a new lower cost option for several years. Apple isn't being altruistic or noble by supporting those devices... they are giving normal support for a device that someone can still buy new with a two-year contract. Once Apple actually retires a product, like the iPad 1, it stops getting updates pretty quickly.
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    It’s also a RAM issue. iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen only have 128MB RAM. That’s why those models can’t run iOS 5 or later. iPad 1st gen has 256MB RAM but it has to drive a much larger screen. It can officially run iOS 5.1 but the experience isn’t great; it’s better to keep it at iOS 4.3. As for the upcoming iOS 7: it will run on almost all the devices that can run iOS 6 (except iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen). That means Apple is actually extending the period during which devices receive major updates. Assuming iOS 7 will be released on September 20[1] and iOS 8 will be released a year from then, that means iPhone 4 will be able to run the latest OS version for 4 years and 3 months (I’m also assuming iPhone 4 won’t be able to run iOS 8). [1] http://www.cultofmac.com/232580/when-will-the-next-ios-7-beta-arrive-when-will-ios-7-be-released-ios-7-timeline/ http://www.cultofmac.com/232580/when-will-the-next-ios-7-bet...
    - smackfu 13y ago
      > iPhone 4 will be able to run the latest OS version for 4 years and 3 months Right. My point is that another way to look at it is that an iPhone 4 bought in August 2013 on a two-year contract will probably stop getting OS updates while it is still under contract.

Or other way around, cost to support 7% of your users may be to high to neglect. Sometimes it makes sense to spend that time and effort on the rest 93%.

buro9 13y ago
Except that when Apple themselves were the 7% their view on whether you should support that % of the total audience was that, unequivocally, you should.
- rimantas 13y ago
  Apples and oranges.

hmottestad 13y ago

Neglect might not be the right term. Usually older devices are on older OS because they can't update. If they can update and haven't then it will probably be because they don't know how or because they don't want to. If your app needs features in iOS 6 to run, then so be it. If not then make it runnable on iOS 5 and 4. If your app used to work on iOS 4, but some new features require iOS 5, then your old customers won't get any more updates but should still be able to use the app. Those stuck on iOS 4 wanting to buy your app won't be able to.

gurkendoktor 13y ago

Case in point - iTunes is Apple's only OS X app which still officially supports OS X 10.6. If there's money to be made, Apple suddenly doesn't mind the maintenance :)

Samuel_Michon 13y ago

Part of that 7% are people who choose not to upgrade, they aren’t neglected. iOS 6 runs on devices as old as 4 years. Meanwhile, every day new Android models are launched that come with years old system software and will never see an update.

smackfu 13y ago
> iOS 6 runs on devices as old as 4 years. It's an interesting side effect of Apple selling old hardware as a new lower cost option for several years. Apple isn't being altruistic or noble by supporting those devices... they are giving normal support for a device that someone can still buy new with a two-year contract. Once Apple actually retires a product, like the iPad 1, it stops getting updates pretty quickly.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  It’s also a RAM issue. iPhone 3G and iPod touch 2nd gen only have 128MB RAM. That’s why those models can’t run iOS 5 or later. iPad 1st gen has 256MB RAM but it has to drive a much larger screen. It can officially run iOS 5.1 but the experience isn’t great; it’s better to keep it at iOS 4.3. As for the upcoming iOS 7: it will run on almost all the devices that can run iOS 6 (except iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4th gen). That means Apple is actually extending the period during which devices receive major updates. Assuming iOS 7 will be released on September 20[1] and iOS 8 will be released a year from then, that means iPhone 4 will be able to run the latest OS version for 4 years and 3 months (I’m also assuming iPhone 4 won’t be able to run iOS 8). [1] http://www.cultofmac.com/232580/when-will-the-next-ios-7-beta-arrive-when-will-ios-7-be-released-ios-7-timeline/ http://www.cultofmac.com/232580/when-will-the-next-ios-7-bet...
  - smackfu 13y ago
    > iPhone 4 will be able to run the latest OS version for 4 years and 3 months Right. My point is that another way to look at it is that an iPhone 4 bought in August 2013 on a two-year contract will probably stop getting OS updates while it is still under contract.