The next major version of iOS will be compatible with the same devices that supported iOS 4.0, Apple confirmed during yesterday’s WWDC 2011 keynote address.
At
the event, Scot Forstall, senior vice president of iOS / iPhone Software, was extremely pleased to showcase some of the most attractive new features coming in iOS 5.
Packing a brand new notifications system, iMessages, Newsstand, a cool new Reminders app, full Twitter integration, Camera.app enhancements and lots more, iOS 5 is still compatible with old-generation iPhone and iPod touch hardware, Forstall confirmed.
Apple’s iOS web page also confirms it: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch third generation, and iPod touch fourth generation, as well as the first- and second-generation iPads.
Apple has set up
a tool for those who want to be among the first to know when iOS 5 and iCloud arrive, allowing them to provide an email address so that the company can let them know when they’re available for their iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch.
When it becomes available, iOS 5 will allow those new to an iDevice to activate and set up their iPhone or iPad right out of the box.
Software updates will also be delivered over the air with no computer required, Apple said.
Up until yesterday, there was quite a bit of fear among owners of an iPhone 3GS that their handset model would not support Apple’s new iOS.
And while the software has been specifically coded with the A4 and A5 chips in mind, Apple did not want to leave the 3GS behind.
It begs the question: had Apple dropped iPhone 3GS support in iOS 4, would it have prompted folks to go out and buy a ‘supported’ device, like the iPhone 4 or one of the newer iPod touch players?
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