02-06-2011, 08:06 AM

Does anyone know if the iPhone 5 will be compatible with OSX 10.5 (Tiger)? I have a G5 Power PC and I can't upgrade past Tiger.

02-06-2011, 08:41 AM

A g5 would be able to use 10.5 Leopard, is there another reason why you canot upgrade?

02-06-2011, 08:51 AM

Sorry, I got all the cats mixed up. I meant to ask if the iPhone 5 would be compatible with Leopard. The Power PC G5 can be upgraded to Leopard, but not Snow Leopard. I was hoping there would not be a problem similar to the one where the iPhone 4 could not be used without upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. Since I cannot use Snow Leopard and I learned the hard way about Tiger and the iPhone 4.......

02-06-2011, 09:01 AM

Well, as for 10.5 support, who knows. I would hope they do support Leopard, but until Apple releases more info, we are all relying on rumour.

02-06-2011, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by dmerzel

Sorry, I got all the cats mixed up. I meant to ask if the iPhone 5 would be compatible with Leopard. The Power PC G5 can be upgraded to Leopard, but not Snow Leopard. I was hoping there would not be a problem similar to the one where the iPhone 4 could not be used without upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. Since I cannot use Snow Leopard and I learned the hard way about Tiger and the iPhone 4.......

Well, the iPhone 4 requires iTunes 10+, which is Leopard and above only. So, I'm going to guess that the iPhone 5 will too. But no one can say for sure.

02-06-2011, 01:20 PM

First we'd have to know something, anything, about the iPhone 5. So far we don't. Based on that there is no real answer to your question. We'll all know the moment Apple tells us.

Either way though, Summer of 2012 is still a good ways off. If you start saving your pennies now you have plenty of time to get a new Intel machine before the iPhone 5 is released.

02-09-2011, 08:26 PM

yea if we are even alive in the summer of 2012....lol

02-14-2011, 01:42 AM

a. It's looking increasingly likely that we won't get an "iPhone 5" this year. As has been done before, Apple will probably incrementally upgrade the iPhone 4 this summer and call it something like the iPhone 4X. We're also starting to see CREDIBLE reports of an iPhone-Mini if you will, something for the lower end of the market that ties in with MobileMe. We'll see about that.

I can't see Apple changing the hardware design of the iPhone 4 at this stage. Whatever they end up calling this year's model, it'll be an "iPhone 4 plus" rather than a real "iPhone Mk V."

As for whether a future iPhone will be PPC compatible -- nobody can say, but I think the writing on the wall is VERY VERY CLEAR that Apple is unlikely to continue extending support for iDevices on non-Intel machines for much longer, if at all. So my GUESS would be "past this summer? No."

02-14-2011, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by dmerzel

Sorry, I got all the cats mixed up. I meant to ask if the iPhone 5 would be compatible with Leopard. The Power PC G5 can be upgraded to Leopard, but not Snow Leopard. I was hoping there would not be a problem similar to the one where the iPhone 4 could not be used without upgrading from Tiger to Leopard. Since I cannot use Snow Leopard and I learned the hard way about Tiger and the iPhone 4.......

<rant>
It really ticks me off that Apple configured the iPhone 4 this way. I had to upgrade my MBP from Tiger to Snow Leopard just to use my new phone. It's a stupid tax on those who are loyal to the Apple brand. If I had a windows computer I would have been able to use my new iPhone without any problems. However, since I have a computer from the same manufacturer as the phone we have problems.

Unless I'm wrong about it working with an old Windows phone then I think this is a completely moronic move by Apple.
</rant>

02-14-2011, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by chas_m

a. It's looking increasingly likely that we won't get an "iPhone 5" this year. As has been done before, Apple will probably incrementally upgrade the iPhone 4 this summer and call it something like the iPhone 4X.

They may not call it the iPhone 5, but that is what it would be. If you follow the progression of iPhones it goes like this:

iPhone 1: the original, 2G/Edge only model
iPhone 2: iPhone 3G
iPhone 3: iPhone 3GS
iPhone 4: iPhone 4
iPhone 5: iPhone 4X

02-14-2011, 08:18 AM

Originally Posted by AUZambo

<rant>
It really ticks me off that Apple configured the iPhone 4 this way. I had to upgrade my MBP from Tiger to Snow Leopard just to use my new phone. It's a stupid tax on those who are loyal to the Apple brand.

Tiger was released in 2005, it's a 6-year old OS, how long do you feel Apple needs to support old OSes for new products? At what point does it harm the product because they can't leverage the new technologies in their recent, very cheaply priced, OSes?

Unless I'm wrong about it working with an old Windows phone then I think this is a completely moronic move by Apple.
</rant>

Your hardware obviously supports SL. You were using a 6-year old OS. The upgrade to SL is pretty cheap. You can now use your iPhone. I don't really think it's that bad of a deal.

02-14-2011, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by AUZambo

<rant>
It really ticks me off that Apple configured the iPhone 4 this way. I had to upgrade my MBP from Tiger to Snow Leopard just to use my new phone. It's a stupid tax on those who are loyal to the Apple brand. If I had a windows computer I would have been able to use my new iPhone without any problems. However, since I have a computer from the same manufacturer as the phone we have problems.

Unless I'm wrong about it working with an old Windows phone then I think this is a completely moronic move by Apple.
</rant>

Over react much?

02-14-2011, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by baggss

Over react much?

You don't think it's silly that Windows users didn't have a problem at all using their new iPhone, while I was forced to upgrade my OS?

Nothing like spending $600 bucks for my 3rd and 4th iphones after I had already spent $2000 for a MBP several years earlier only to find out I had to go out and spend more money to upgrade my OS to make syncing the phones possible.

I don't think I'm over reacting at all. It was a huge inconvenience and a cheap way for Apple to get more money out of their current customers. If apple wanted to make life difficult, it seems they'd do that for people wanting to sync their phones to a windows computer. Why in the world would they release a phone that's incompatible with their own computers?

Originally Posted by schweb

Tiger was released in 2005, it's a 6-year old OS, how long do you feel Apple needs to support old OSes for new products? At what point does it harm the product because they can't leverage the new technologies in their recent, very cheaply priced, OSes?



Your hardware obviously supports SL. You were using a 6-year old OS. The upgrade to SL is pretty cheap. You can now use your iPhone. I don't really think it's that bad of a deal.

I read this after responding to the other post. This makes more sense that producing a new product tied to an old OS may limit its potential. Why in the world wouldn't Apple explain that to me when I called them about it? They simply said I had to upgrade the OS and offered no other explanation.

Also, while I'm pretty tech savvy, I'm far from a programmer and don't understand the limitations/possibilities afforded by certain OS. However, I still find it odd that if I was running a 4 year old Windows computer I could sync my phone just fine. If it works with old windows computers, is it really that difficult to make it work with an older mac?

Like you said, it was a minor cost - just $30 - but the inconvenience of it is what really irked me. It just seemed like a silly way to make people upgrade their OS.

02-14-2011, 12:51 PM

You also aren't forced to use an iPhone 4. You could use the 3GS, the 3G or original iPhone still. You technically inconvenienced yourself, especially since system requirements are listed.

Using old hardware or an old OS, you have to accept the limitations that come along with that, you can't blame the people that make new products.\

And asking why can Windows do X but I have to do Y on a Mac isn't really an equal comparison. They are different OSes with different hardware with different potential and requirements. If they were the same, there's be no Apple.

02-14-2011, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by AUZambo

You don't think it's silly that Windows users didn't have a problem at all using their new iPhone, while I was forced to upgrade my OS?

It's kind of a fluke. Windows XP had a very long service life in terms of operating systems. It was stagnant for about 8 years and is still being sold today because of rejection of Vista (although 7 seems to be doing well). I can pretty much guarantee you that if Microsoft had been on as aggressive an upgrade schedule as Apple was throughout the last decade, you would have found the same thing with apps on that platform.

While I can sympathize with your sentiment, it's kind of a "you snooze, you lose" proposition. 10.4 was superseded with the 2007 release of Leopard and then in turn, Leopard was superseded in 2009 with Snow Leopard. If you hadn't bothered to upgrade your OS in the intervening years, it should really come as no surprise when newer apps are released that don't support your legacy OS.