Apple’s iPhone, which celebrated its fifth birthday last June, will soon reach ‘obsolete’ status at Apple’s retail stores. This comes via an internal Apple communication which reveals that Apple Stores will downgrade the original 2007 iPhone model to ‘obsolete’ status come June 11, 2013.
Between its January 2007 introduction and the June 29, 2007 debut, the iPhone had enjoyed an unprecedented amount of media attention that fueled the media frenzy to unheard-of levels. But even the phone that changed the cell phones forever deserves retirement. By obsoleting the device, Apple will no longer be providing service parts…
According to 9to5Mac, on June 11, 2013, the original iPhone, along with several other Macs and Xserve models “will officially be classified as vintage and obsolete products by Apple.”
This means that owners of the officially obsolete iPhone, Mac and Xserve models may only obtain service and parts from Apple service providers or Apple Retail Stores within the state of California.
“Apple does not provide service parts nor service documentation for obsolete products,” the internal document reportedly reads. “Obsolete products (obsolete and vintage in the U.S.) cannot be facilitated as Mail-In Repairs to Apple Care Repair Centers.”
Along with the original iPhone, the following products will reach ‘obsolete’ status come June 29: the original AirPort Express Base Station, mid-2007 20-inch iMac, mid-2007 24-inch iMac, the original Mac Pro, late-2007 13-inch MacBook, 2.2/2.4GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro, 2.4GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro, late-2006 Xserve, SFP late-2004 Xserve RAID, 17-inch iMac G5 (iSight), 20-inch iMac G5 (iSight), late-2005 Mac mini, 15-inch PowerBook G4 (Double-Layer SuperDrive) and 17-inch PowerBook G4 (Double-Late SuperDrive).
Apple also cautions there is no distinction between vintage and obsolete products in Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Japan and Apple Retail Stores, except for stores located in the state of California.
According to this support document, Apple defines vintage products as “those that were discontinued more than five and less than seven years ago,” as opposed to obsolete products “that were discontinued more than seven years ago.”
Apple typically discontinues all hardware service for obsolete products “with no exceptions.” No service provider can order parts for obsolete products.
Speaking of vintage and obsolete gadgets, German auction house Team Breker is auctioning one of the last remaining working Apple I computers (an estimated $260,000-$400,000 value), along with a Lisa system (an estimated $20,000-$40,000 value).