In typical Apple fashion, as iOS 6 is announced and perhaps released later today, some users may be forced to move on and purchase new Apple mobile devices if they wish to enjoy any of the new features and future apps that the latest OS may have on offer.
It appears as though, from the lack of beta-build availability, that Apple is looking to drop support for both the original iPad and the 3rd generation iPod Touch. The firm has a history of moving punters along, dropping support for the original iPhone 2G in iOS 3 and, for the iPhone 3G and associated iPod Touch in iOS 4.
Unlike previous cullings, however, there's potentially a little controversy surrounding this one, if it's indeed to take place. Logically, we could understand Apple's move with dropping support for the iPhone 3G; all of the firm's devices since have been based on ARM Cortex A and OpenGL ES 2.0 architectures, leaving the iPhone 3G as a difficult to support product that, as the lowest common denominator, was a serious limitation for app/game developers.
This time around, however, core architectures have majoritively remained the same; the firm also looks set to continue support for the iPhone 3GS, which is older than both the iPad and 3rd generation iPod Touch, with the Touch toting similar specs and the iPad actually sporting a faster CPU. There's therefore, very little reason for the firm to not add support for the two platforms, which makes this potential decision purely a business one, with the iPhone 3GS currently the only device from the generation still on sale.
Either way, we'll know for sure later today, stay tuned.
