Apple will no longer repair your 6-year-old first-gen iPhone

The original iPhone is now so old that Apple will soon regard it as "vintage" and "obsolete", and will no longer provide repair parts or documentation.

The venerable mobile is six years old -- gosh, doesn't time fly? It feels like only yesterday -- and from 11 June this year it'll be abandoned to fend for itself in the wilderness of eBay and second-hand phone shops, according to internal Apple documentation obtained by 9to5Mac.

Apple regards any product bought in the UK that's over five years old as "obsolete", meaning it no longer stocks replacement parts or documentation, and won't fix it for you. In the US there's a distinction between obsolete and "vintage", which is between five and seven years old. California law requires some level of service up to seven years, so Apple continues to support products in that state.

Also being put out to pasture this year are some 2007 iMacs, MacBook Pros, a 13-inch MacBook and a Mac Pro. Unless Apple changes its policy, next year will see the iPhone 3G phased out, followed by the 3GS in 2015, the 4 in 2016 and so on.

The original iPhone was barely even a smart phone. It didn't have 3G -- remember Edge? -- and the App Store was barely a wrinkle in Steve Jobs' polo neck. CNET UK's four-star review pronounced, "The Apple iPhone sets a new benchmark for an integrated mobile phone and MP3 player."

Have you still got a first-gen iPhone? Are you too young to even remember it? Do you think Apple should support it? Wax nostalgic down in the comments.