Opinion: Why life as a first-generation iPod touch owner sucks

I can't help but feel myself seething with rage every time I sit down to watch an Apple press conference.

Don't get me wrong – no-one manages to build hype quite like Steve Jobs, as proven by the sound of an audience of Apple acolytes being whipped into another frenzy by a new shiny piece of hardware.

But, in crude terms, every step forward Apple takes is a step back for me. As an owner of a first-generation iPod touch, I've had to get used to the idea that my not yet three year old device is not only out of date, but getting more and more debilitated by the day.

As such, I have little sympathy for the leagues of tweets complaining about the amount of time it's taking for iPad to join the iOS 4 bandwagon.

Not only will my iPod touch never make that leap, but its very functionality is being compromised as others doing so.

There are, of course, technical reasons why a first generation iPod touch would not be a suitable home for the latest version of iOS.

Apple has already attracted criticism for its implementation on iPhone 3G handsets, and I'm by no means under any illusion that my now apparently archaic device would do anything but crumble under the pressure.

However, what's less acceptable is how, even running the latest iOS version available to it, my iPod touch now struggles with many of the apps I've had installed on the device since App Store day one.

Aside from the fact that almost every update post purchase seems to slow it down, now the apps themselves have a habit of crashing – even the simplest of titles, like Twitter clients, run into trouble as they update themselves to accommodate iPhone 4.

Change is nothing new when it comes to electronics.

It's perfectly normal for a device to be superseded, either by a rival or an updated model, within months of its debut.

However, the idea that the supplanted model should suffer as a result – that the day to day running of the handset should stutter and stall as Apple and its band of developers rush to appease newcomers – is different.

It's the equivalent of the launch of HD causing standard definition televisions sets to degrade.

Progress is inevitable, but should new tech really be sacrificed within two years of release?

As Steve Jobs stated during the unveiling of the new iPod touch, it's Apple's drive to continually update its product range that ensures sales keep growing.

Every current iPad owner knows that next year will see the launch of a camera-equipped model that will take the sheen off their recent purchase.

iPhone users have quickly got in the habit of updating their handsets every summer, consumers on the whole already familiar with trading in their phones every six, 12 or 24 months for a newer model.

The issue, however, is not with Apple's desire to keep pushing iOS forward – the problem lies with its insistence that the platform is a unified one.

The idea that apps simply run on each and every of the 120 million iOS devices sold to date is an appealing one, and a key feature that helps set it apart from rivals such as Android.

However, since the launch of iOS 4.0, it's simply not true. Not only are apps having difficulty running on older handsets, but now some of Apple's key lines simply aren't available for the platform's userbase.

Both Game Center and iAd are out of reach for users like me, not only altering my experience with apps on the platform, but also splitting iOS's userbase in two.

Unreal Engine 3's debut during Apple's most recent press blitz is the final nail in my iPod touch's coffin. The grand spectacle that has generated so much buzz over the last few days is part of a party my device has not been invited to.

It's just the kind of visual leap that will convince many of my brethren to upgrade, but in the long term I can't help but feel Apple's insistence on dating its own hardware will eventually come back to bite the company on the bottom.

This is an industry that's constantly moving forward, and without setting its sights on the next hurdle to overcome it's fairly likely iOS would have quickly fallen behind its rivals.

But to someone who parted with his cash to back the iOS bandwagon in the early days, a little more transparency wouldn't go amiss.

iOS is by no means a universal platform, and I'd far rather whole leagues of apps were explicitly out of my reach than download them only to find my dear old iPod touch coughing and wheezing.