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iPhone OS 2 apps no longer welcome on the App Store

Apple hasn't been shy about dropping support for older hardware and software in recent years, and it looks like the iPhone and iPod touch are no exception: according to a short note on the iPhone developer site encouraging devs to get ready for iOS 4, the App Store will no longer affect apps that target iOS 2. That doesn't really mean much right now -- apart from a few iPod touch owners who didn't pay the $10 iOS 3 upgrade fee, we doubt there are many people out there still running iOS 2 -- but we can see Apple dropping support for iOS 3 apps next year when iOS 5 and a new iPhone are announced, and that'll effectively be the end of the original iPhone and touch, which can't be upgraded to iOS 4. That's a four-year shelf life, which isn't too bad considering the insane pace of mobile development, but we can still shed a tear -- especially since we paid $599 for the damn thing on contract way back when.