Original iPhone (2G) Reaches End of the Line

Must be sad to be an old iPhone, or an original iPhone user for that matter. After almost three years in circulation, the aluminum-backed iPhone is officially obsolete. Apple's iPhone 4 upgrade will not run on the earliest iPhone hardware at all.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs confirmed that the company would cease support for the original iPhone in an email this week. When asked if the device would see any future updates he simply replied, "Sorry, no."

Original iPhone users were already left out of some new features in iPhone OS 3.0, such as MMS and video recording. As it turns out, iPhone 3G users will even be left out of some iPhone OS 4.0 features this time around, including multitasking. Only Apple's latest iPhone model, the 3GS, will receive the full package.

The original iPhone launched in 2007. Besides switching the back of the newer models to plastic instead of aluminum, Apple has improved the hardware in each generation. The latest model is slated to be displaced this summer by a fourth iteration of the iPhone. Some have speculated the device will use a variant of the A4 chip featured in the iPad and include a front-facing camera for video calling.

According to Apple, over 100 new user features are coming to iPhone 4. Some of the highlights besides third-party multitasking include iBooks for iPhone, Apple's new in-app advertising called iAd, social gaming with Game Center, and folders on the home screen for apps. The new firmware will also be released for the iPad starting in the fall.