If you ignore Apple‘s fumble with the Apple Maps app, then their latest mobile operations system, iOS 6, had 200+ great improvements and was well received. However, iOS 6 has a dirty little secret… it doesn’t work on the iPad 1. Unfortunately, this means that your 1G iPad will become little more than an expensive paperweight as new apps and updates to your existing apps start to require iOS 6. I’ve seen this first hand with my iPod Touch 1G.
Are you angry yet iPad 1 owners? I thought so.
I own a 1G iPad myself and it’s extremely frustrating to see such an expensive purchase become basically obsolete only 2-years after it was released. Even my old iPhone 3GS (I know, I have a lot of old Apple gear) was able to update to iOS 6 and it came out almost a year before the iPad 1.
So why did Apple quietly abandon the iPad 1 with iOS 6? According to documents they had to disclose during their lawsuit with Samsung, Apple has made $39 billion dollars from iPad sales since 2010. Are they just greedy and want us to buy more iPads? I’m sure Apple wouldn’t mind if we did. But the real reason why Apple had to discontinue support for the iPad 1 is most likely lack of RAM.
The simple sad fact is that the iPad 1 only has 256 MB of RAM. Back in 2010, that was enough to handle iOS 4 and the current crop of available apps in the App Store. It also helped keep the iPad’s price down. But as the apps and OS got more complicated, and started running in the background, I’ve seen major performance issues on the iPad 1. The only reason why the iPhone 3GS, which also only has 256 MB of RAM, can handle iOS 6, is screen size. With the smaller screen, the 3GS can probably get away with running iOS 6 on only 256 MBs of RAM.
So now myself and millions of other iPad 1 owners are left with an expensive paperweight.
What should we do? I suggest putting as many non-Internet required apps on your iPad 1 as soon as possible, and never syncing/updating your apps again. If you update an app to an iOS 6 version in iTunes on your computer and then try to sync your iPad 1, the old version of the app will just get removed from your iPad 1. I’ve seen this firsthand. The home screen on my iPod Touch 1G is pretty barren. It still works, but it’s little more than a very slow web browser. And unfortunately, it’s a sad prediction of what my iPad 1 will become over the next few months.
Some other things you can do with your iPad 1 include:
- Use it in the kitchen as a recipe look-up tablet
- Be thankful you didn’t sell you kidney to buy one (true story!)
- Give it to an elderly family member or friend
- Blend it
- Shoot it with a shotgun
- Sell it (do it fast!)
In the future, let’s hope Apple adds “2-year+ lifetime” to their long term product strategy.
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
hard to believe that my iPad 1 is basically obsolete in Apple’s eyes at this point.
Are you saying that your iPad stopped working on the day iOS 6 was released? No, it didn’t. You can still browse the web, do your email, and all the other stuff that it still does under iOS 5! It’s a bit much to claim that your iPad is now a paperweight, but I guess it’s a way to get page views.
You are correct about needing to be careful about updating apps, though – you should update on the iPad itself, rather than in iTunes. If you do it this way, it won’t download incompatible apps.
To be fair, the kidney money went to buy an iPad 2 …
Jailbreak it, get Cydia and install some of the tweaks in order to hopefully extend the life of the device.
At least be glad you still have a lightweight YouTube app. ^^;
Cannot feel this way about iPad 1. It’s not obsolete in my eyes and my daily duties. It’s still working letting me surf the web, read and reply to emails, look at movies… it’s not a glorified paperweight at all.
Perhaps you can install android on it 😉
After having gone through a clusterf$ck of an upgrade to iOS 4 on my iPhone 3G (which has 128MB of RAM), I’m glad that Apple made that choice for all of those iPad 1 owners out there. You’re better off not having an operating system that requires more memory than you have because it’s going to be an awful experience. Apple made the right choice here… in fact I’m surprised that they even allowed the 3GS to update to iOS 6.
so run iOS 5. It still does everything it did when you bought it.
It’s amazing that it removes the working version of programs completely when you do a sync. I’d cal it a bug except I know it’s not, it’s intentional destruction of your data to force obsolescence and a new hardware purchase.
until the apps stop working…
Damn that other guy was lucky to get an iPad2 for his kidney!
I own a first gen iPad, and I can tell you it won’t be the same.
Apps will slowly stop working, and updates will be restricted to newer firmware only, meaning my only option is to delete the apps that I had been using and paid for… or heaven forbid I need to do a restore and get all of my apps back. Then it’s just a lottery of luck on how many I’ll be allowed to download, and that number will decrease with time.
I can understand dropping support for legacy products, but I’ve only had the thing a year and a half or something.
can i still jailbreak my iPad 1? and then use it forever?? right? screw you Apple!
i have an iPod Touch 1G and it’s a paper weight now. the web barely works now. so yeah, the iPad 1 will become a paper weight.
Ridiculous article. My iPad 1 functions just fine since iOS6 came out. I’ve never upgraded to the new iOS versions anyway immediately upon their release and now, just because I can’t, I don’t feel any need to panic.
I’m still watching movies, reading books and mail, and browsing the web just fine. In fact, I can even remote desktop into my office machines and deal with the downed production web server.
Besides, the iPad would make a terrible paperweight… it would hide all the papers under it and you’d have no idea they were there.
what an idiotic article. Not having iOS 6 hardly makes the iPad 1 a paperweight.
Also anyone familiar with Apple knows their equipment typically lasts far longer and is supported longer by than just about anyone else. The iPad 1 is an anomaly as it was the first successful tablet.
One of these things is not like the other. Duh.
Also the Touch still works with old OS.
Whiner.
He wants an advanced OS. Nott a malware and bloatware laden copy of the real thing.
Well thats odd because they stopped selling them at least two years ago.
Which will take forever.
If, after the first Intel Mac and the first iPhone, you still lined up to buy the first iPad, you deserve what you get. Apple’s first gen products are never worth it.
well my mom still likes it for PvZ and running credit cards 😛
Ironically my iPad 1 crashed while reading this article
Wrong again. two years ago iPad just came out, in around March/April 2010.
😛 Ahhh … so true. At least in this aspect it is better than iOS6 and iPhone 5
Agree, which will probably accelerate within the year.
mmm did you even read the article? He IS saying that Apple is NOT supporting iPad through the obsolescence of apps …. which is the same as not support a legacy device. And Mind you, this is less than 2 years after its debut.
So … you are telling me you NEVER encounter one single apps which cannot be updated?
Don’t upgrade any apps as if any of the apps contain IOS6 code then they will not run on your orig Ipad. Did you not understand what that means? You can’t dload any IOS apps but any updates will config your apps on your ipad but will not run/crash on it. There as good as gone.
I am wondering is what are the number of orig IPADS are out there?