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Nearly 30% of Apple's first-gen iPhones are still in use - report - Page 2

post #41 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SFSwitcher View Post

Was your friend able to get the $20 data plan with 200 texts with the 1st gen phone?

To be honest, I'm not sure. I don't think he texts more than ten times a month, and that's just to see if his wife needs anything from the store while he's out. He has a bare-bones plan I think. Either way, he likes it and is happy with what he can do with it. The thing he likes most is Maps, Safari, and the iPod being in one phone. He's a pro at getting lost, so that helps him. The first gen iPhone is more than enough for him, but I don't know what plan he has. Regardless, he got the phone for free.
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post #42 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:21am
My 1st gen iPhone has been notoriously abused by me. I got a Vaja case for it a few months after i got it just for safety's sake. I routinely demonstrate the hardness of the tempered optical glass to my Blackberry friends - and invite them to join me in swiping car keys back and forth across their screens - hundreds of time (for me) by now I think. Most demur - but one took me up on it (after he had bought his new 3GS ) and he delightedly scored his Blackberry screen with his keys.

I toss mine some distance onto tables and desks with the occasional collision with other objects, drop it, and otherwise behave very badly towards it - and it keeps working. My battery still manages a full day and some before recharge.Since it consolidated my PDA, iPod and cellphone into one device - the price I paid for this resilient kit was well worth it and more. I may, just may, upgrade this summer with the new OS and hardware, depending on the final config of the new model. I never imagined that one device like this could so readily handle my mobility needs so well.
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post #43 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:24am
I wonder how much of a correction factor they have included for original iPhones that just happen to not have any software loaded that would cause them to show up on in that measurement?

With the higher speeds and capacities of the newer phones - I would expect there to be on average more apps loaded and more time spent on line that with the older slower lower capacity phone.

how many folks use there phone as gasp of all things a phone primarily rather than a mobile gaming platform could also be a factor.

i still se my first gen iPhone - and will most likely replace it with whatever new model comes out this summer - and my old phone will most likely end up as an iPod touch for my son to play with - or I could sell it on eBay in which case it might well end up over seas - or unlocked to work on some other network - and I wonder how much of those cases are captured by this statistic.

Perhaps it would be better to say something along the lines of at least 30% of the 1st gen are still used on the web (or from whatever the source of the metrics happens to be).
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post #44 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:31am
I still have my 1st Gen iPhone and love it. But I also plan on upgrading and getting the new iPhone this summer. Not because it's out of date, but I would like to take advantage of some of the features that the newer models offer.

I have not decided on the fate of my iPhone. Maybe I will pass it along to someone, keep it as a home remote or sell it.
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post #45 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:32am
I know a couple of friends who use first-gen iPhones. One got hers from her brother who upgraded to a 3GS. The other got it from a friend after it had been deactivated (he uses it as an iPod Touch). I'll be coming up on the 2-year upgrade cycle for my 3G this August - I hope something great comes out this summer!
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post #46 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:34am
My wife and I still have our original 16 GB iPhones and the batteries show no signs of degradation (we have had them for two years). The best part of the original iPhone is the increased durability of the aluminum backing and the cheaper data plan that includes text messages. Apps run just fine on the original iPhone neither one of us care about multi-tasking multiple applications on a phone. So we have no plans to upgrade the phones.
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post #47 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:36am
I also no several other people with original iPhone, but also plan on upgrading.
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post #48 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:36am
Bought my wife a 1st gen iPhone for Christmas a couple of years ago. Late last year it failed and she had to get a 3GS. There was not dropping, no immersion, nothing but gentle use. It failed after she finished a Bluetooth phone call in the car. She went inside here office and it was dead and presenting the restore screen. I tried everything I could - even using jailbreak tools to try to snap it out of it's funk. Nothing worked. The guy at the Apple store was helpful, but had no solution.

Our previous Samsung flip phones (very primitive) were still working after 5 years. And they were dropped and mishandled fairly often. We treat our iPhone differently because they are so expensive and we assumed more delicate. Who knew that it would fail due to internal component failure and not mechanical damage?

I still have it. I take it out every now and then and try to wake it up. Sad.
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post #49 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:37am
I am a happy first-gen user as well. However, I will be upgrading to the new model this summer simply because my current iPhone - while usable - is beginning to show its age and the battery life is getting short. It's been the best phone I've ever owned. The close 2nd would be my old Motorola StarTac.

My phone will simply be used as an iPod Touch. It's served me well.
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post #50 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:41am
When my iPhone is no longer in daily use as a phone, it will become a nice iPod that happens to have a camera. (And the battery will last for many years when it comes to music playbackits got capacity to spare for such light use. Gaming use will eventually need a new battery, which is possible but I wont bother.) Ultimately it will end up connected one of my stereos (or a friends)possibly a car stereowhere it will continue to deliver iTunes long after the battery is gone. Luckily my 6-year-old hard disk iPod (with older battery technology) is still going strong and gets hours of use on a charge, despite the spinning motor, so I think it will be a VERY long time before this iPhones usable life is compromised. I figure around 2050 Ill recycle it

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post #51 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:46am
Funny how appleinsider omitted to present the other, more interesting result, regarding Android's percentage in the US exceeding that of iPhone OS.

Re: 1st generation iphones, I still think they look cooler and feel more solid than the actual 3GS (except the fact that the 3GS is thinner, which is nice).
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post #52 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichL View Post

What's happened to the other 70%? Recycled, I hope.

You've said a mouthful.

Back when I had a Phone, it was a device that made phone calls. imagine that I had it for the 2 year contract, and then for an additional 3-4 years. It did the job, I was happy.

Now we have smart phones. Every year the iphone will be better. Now when your two year contract is up you have a much much better computer you can buy (yes, the iphone is a computer that happens to make phone calls). Heck, we even have people paying a penalty to end the contracts early to get a new iphone.

So now more than ever before smartphones will be headed to the trash heap. Will Apple have a special recycling initiative as we all toss our iphones for 'new and improved'?
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post #53 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:48am
So does that mean iPhones have a 70% failure fate within three years?
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post #54 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by knappster View Post

The real question is: what percentage of popular older phones (Razors, Ericsons, etc as of pre-2007) were still in use three years later? Does a better designed, more capable phone such as the iPhone keep it's value for longer than other phones?

Is there a way of finding out how those other phones panned out?

A key difference: Nokia, Motorola and other handset makers refer to their software typically as "firmware". Apple has always referred to the iPhone Operating System.

How many phones out there allow you to easily upgrade the phone's firmware/operating system and add apps? This is what Apple did brilliantly by taking the OS upgrade to the cell phone and incorporating new features, new apps and an App ecosystem. Nokia and Motorola wanted you to buy a new phone to get new features. Firmware upgrades for existing hardware were for bug fixes -- not new features and apps and not easy for your typical non-techie to do.
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post #55 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:52am
It states that 2% of iphones accessing the admob network are the 2Gs.
This is incorrect... according to the chart 2% of iphones AND ipod touches are the 2G iPhones. the total iPhone usage is 60% of all usage while 40% is iPod touches.

If you factor out the iPod Touches and focus ONLY in iPhones that 2% actually increases closer to 4-5% of total iPhone usage... which would make the number of iPhone 2Gs still in use be closer to 50-60%

I could be wrong though...

(Edit: after re-reading I see that the total number of units sold is including iPhone/iTouch not just iPhone sales... so the numbers extracted are correct. Not only could I be wrong... I was!)
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post #56 of 75
4/27/10 at 10:54am
Did they ever think that the first gens are still out there but people are not access the web with them. Like ours, it was handed down to one of the kids which he mostly used it for texting, listening to music and playing games, he hardly surfs the web. Partly because we did not allow him to have a data plan, but he hardly surf when when at home on the wifi.

I think their analysis is bit flawed, since it base on how many phones access ad content they provide so if you do not frequent their sites you are not counted in their numbers.
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post #57 of 75
4/27/10 at 11:10am
It's not because they're good. It's because people still have those older cheaper contracts and they don't want to upgrade.

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post #58 of 75
4/27/10 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ediedi View Post

Funny how appleinsider omitted to present the other, more interesting result, regarding Android's percentage in the US exceeding that of iPhone OS.

Android U.S. Ad Request Market Share Surges Past iPhone

http://www.macrumors.com/2010/04/27/...-mix-detailed/

It happened much more quickly than I would have imagined.
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post #59 of 75
4/27/10 at 11:38am
Im still using mine (bought in Nov 2007 - the day it launched in the UK).

Ive never though the 3G or 3GS offer a big enough leap to justify an upgrade but I will probably upgrade when the next model comes out - battery is starting to go funny and it wont run OS 4
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post #60 of 75
4/27/10 at 11:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ediedi View Post

Funny how appleinsider omitted to present the other, more interesting result, regarding Android's percentage in the US exceeding that of iPhone OS.

I agree. Android OS has surpassed iPhone OS in mobile metric usage. This is completely expected with so many vendors making so many models at so many price points on all carrier in the US. It doesn't take away from Apple's success in the least bit.

Here is some other reading on this...

•

http://metrics.admob.com/2010/04/mar...etrics-report/
PS: This is kind of sad. Most Android users are on v1.x with most on v1.5.

•

http://developer.android.com/resourc...-versions.html
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post #61 of 75
4/27/10 at 11:56am
30% with active service seems like a high number.

30% in use during the survey seems like a low number, depending upon how long the survey is.

The active service number seems high because you could have sold your original iPhone for more than what a new one costs with subsidy.
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post #62 of 75
4/27/10 at 12:34pm
Still using my original iPhone. Still using my original iPod touch as well.

Refuse to sign another contract with AT&T. Their service is the worst. And around here in SoCal, I get a better signal on EDGE than my 3G and 3G S using friends.

If theres no iPhone for other carriers announced this Summer then I suppose I'll just use my iPad around the house, upgrade my iPod touch this Fall, and get a regular phone on a carrier that actually works. I don't "need" a smart phone, I just like my iPhone. But no device is good enough to make me stay with the hell that is AT&T's service.
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post #63 of 75
4/27/10 at 1:03pm
More detailed info: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...new-iphone.ars
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post #64 of 75
4/27/10 at 1:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichL View Post

What's happened to the other 70%? Recycled, I hope.

Mine is sitting in my personal Apple museum. What, you don't have a personal Apple museum?
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post #65 of 75
4/27/10 at 2:56pm
I have an original 4GB iPhone, and I use web services all the time-- in the form of apps... Facebook, Myspace (okay, not so much anymore), etc... It's actually pretty rare that I use Safari to get info on the web. So I wonder if usage like this skews the data?
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post #66 of 75
4/27/10 at 3:26pm
I'm still using my 1st gen iPhone. My AT&T contract expired in December 2009 and I refuse to renew it b/c I don't want to give AT&T any more money than I have to. Aside from that, my iPhone still works great so I have no real reason to upgrade - at least not yet.
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post #67 of 75
4/27/10 at 3:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaarrrgggh View Post

Disappointed Apple doesn't sell unlock codes for a premium after 3-12 months of service...

Simple: fly to Sydney Australia, catch a train to Town Hall, buy an unlocked iPhone at the Apple Store, return by train to Sydney international, fly back to where you started from. The cost and the 40+ hrs flying might be a problem, though ;~(.

Cheers
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post #68 of 75
4/27/10 at 6:10pm
.

1G

Still working like a champ

.

Ok, almost 'upgraded' one time, need to get into iTunes Store while 'out on a job'

But now, least in my City, Edge connects just fine

So, like Emmett told Aunt Bee, "If it ain't broke, no need to fix it"

.

And, imho - is just like an iPad, only smaller

.
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post #69 of 75
4/27/10 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgc0202 View Post

There was a time a phone used to last forever. Now, when I go to the phone store to have my old phone "maintained", the clerk tells me, it is too old (after two years). They want me to buy a new one.

It just happened to coincide with their renewal cycle.

CGC.

Apple pretty much invented the idea of phone maintenance...before, even with smartphones, you got what you got in the box, period. and if you did ever get a firmware update, it was just a bug fix, and the razor or blackberry at the store 9 months to a year later may well have been the same chips on the inside, but it now did xyz because of a software patch that U cant get on yours, Apple ended that shit, and for that those who care about not waisting resources, and those on the wireless phone treadmill owe Apple a lot of thanks.

P.S.

That is why I will be rreplacing my aging iPhone 3g 8gb with a 16 GB model of whatever apple releases in June because I will get at least 2 and maybe 3 major revs out of it and thus be at least semi current for 4 years or so. I will be loyal to Apple because they did not screw me when I was unemployed in 2009, I got 85-90% of the usability of the 3gs that my friends bought with just a patch that cost me nothing...who says apple is more expensive?
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post #70 of 75
4/27/10 at 8:27pm
The number of 1st generation Iphone users sounds believable. After all some people use their iphones occassionally, others are satisfied with the features they have.
Eventually when a new IPHONE comes out with some real hot features we'll see a big run to upggrading. What's a 'REAL HOT FEATURE'???? It's certainly not muliitasking, or folders or an LED flash.
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post #71 of 75
4/28/10 at 3:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by BUSHMAN4 View Post

The number of 1st generation Iphone users sounds believable. After all some people use their iphones occassionally, others are satisfied with the features they have.
Eventually when a new IPHONE comes out with some real hot features we'll see a big run to upggrading. What's a 'REAL HOT FEATURE'???? It's certainly not muliitasking, or folders or an LED flash.

you want a hot new feature? how about letting the Macbook Pro team design the phone...

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/26/c...sius-your-lap/
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post #72 of 75
4/28/10 at 4:56am
Quote:
Originally Posted by SFSwitcher View Post

This analysis includes only people that have accessed AdMob through Apps or web sites I believe. I'm sure there is a significant group of users that just use their iPhones for cell phone, email and calendaring so this number could be even higher.

I would be extremely skeptical that such a "significant group" exists.
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post #73 of 75
4/28/10 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by masternav View Post

My 1st gen iPhone has been notoriously abused by me. I got a Vaja case for it a few months after i got it just for safety's sake. I routinely demonstrate the hardness of the tempered optical glass to my Blackberry friends - and invite them to join me in swiping car keys back and forth across their screens - hundreds of time (for me) by now I think. Most demur - but one took me up on it (after he had bought his new 3GS ) and he delightedly scored his Blackberry screen with his keys.
I toss mine some distance onto tables and desks with the occasional collision with other objects, drop it, and otherwise behave very badly towards it - and it keeps working. My battery still manages a full day and some before recharge.Since it consolidated my PDA, iPod and cellphone into one device - the price I paid for this resilient kit was well worth it and more. I may, just may, upgrade this summer with the new OS and hardware, depending on the final config of the new model. I never imagined that one device like this could so readily handle my mobility needs so well.

You are luckier than me. I don't cosset my 1st gen iPhone by any means, but I certainly don't test it the way you do. Nevertheless, I am hoping it will survive to June or whenever the next one appears. I had a stuck pixel recently, which had gradually extended itself to a grey line that covers around half the screen. Another two appeared above the first, so I have three pixel-deep lines now. I suspect they'll gradually increase in size until they cover the full width of the screen. They don't bother me that much, given that the next update is likely close, and I obviously qualify for the cheaper option. My fear is that more will appear...

Overall, I think the phone has done fairly well for a complex piece of tech that has lived in my pocket for three years, has been dropped multiple ( I have a five yo and a three yo who love to game on it) times, and has been used in all weathers and temperatures. It sure lasted a lot longer than the crappy Motorola Q it replaced.

Edit: appy-polly-logies for the double post...
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post #74 of 75
4/28/10 at 8:34am
The number I find shocking is those still on 3.1.2! I have to assume the vast majority of these are jail broken and/or unlocked. While one can upgrade to 3.1.3 it was advised against since there were no new features.

As for how many ate on 3.x I actually don't find that surprising. The device essentially HAS to be tethered occasionally to remain useful, and thr update OS box pops up making it trival.

I am surprised so many original models are off the Internet entirely, so realiZE that just because they dropped edge data plans does mean they don't have wifi.
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post #75 of 75
4/28/10 at 4:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by enzos View Post

Simple: fly to Sydney Australia, catch a train to Town Hall, buy an unlocked iPhone at the Apple Store, return by train to Sydney international, fly back to where you started from. The cost and the 40+ hrs flying might be a problem, though ;~(.

Cheers

Problem is you are still stuck in a 2-year contract with a carrier in the US. (I'm fine with that part to be honest.) I want to get the subsidy for signing the contract, since I am stuck with it anyway. Pre-paid plans for the iPhone don't make sense here, although they are great for travel!
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