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The programmer of "NovoCard" released that for iOS 5 or iOS6, he is now prevented from putting bug fixes for the old release into the AppStore because Apple requires him to release the "new release" for iOs7 and above.

Are you sure you aren't mistaking that for the fact that he's required to support iOS 7? Where's your source?

Your claim that 95% of the users are now on iOS7 and newer is simply wrong, regardless what Apple claims.

Nearly everyone I know (and has the knowledge how to do it) switched back from iOS7 to iOS6.

Your anecdotes about people you know do not outweigh the statistics gathered across all active users.

It's not just Apple that say that 95% of people are on iOS 7+. Mixpanel do as well. Fiksu put it at 90%. You get the picture. Multiple independent sources all say that the vast majority of people are using iOS 7+ regardless of your personal gripes with it. Just because you don't like it and you know other people that don't like it, it doesn't mean Apple are "simply wrong" when they say that almost everybody is using iOS 7+.

this is one good reason to use Obj-C instead of Swift: to support older iOS devices that cannot upgrade to iOS 7.

Not all that good a reason. 95% of active iOS users are already on iOS 7+ and that number is growing every day. The only devices that can't upgrade to it are the iPhone 3GS and below, the equivalent iPod touch, and the first generation iPad. There aren't many people using these devices any more.

I have an iPad 1 that is stuck at iOS 5.1.

I appreciate that it's frustrating being left behind, but when only 0.66% of active iOS users are on version 5, it's very difficult to justify the extra work involved in supporting them.

By the time the OP learns to develop for iOS and actually builds his application, the number of people using older versions of iOS will be even lower. Unless you're willing to chase diminishing returns, it's not worth supporting anything beyond the previous major version, and even that's debatable.

No, you're right, there's no rule against supporting older versions. Xcode 6, which is the version released just the other day to support iOS 8 development, supports building applications targeting iOS 6 and up.

Apple have never explicitly required developers to support a minimum version of iOS, they just drop support for targeting older versions in Xcode a few years after release. Xcode 5, which was the most recent version until the other day, still supported iOS 4.3, which is over three years old and has virtually nobody using it.

This is another indication of how eager the tech industry is to get in on the same monetization model that Rovio was just implicated in with the Snowden documents--data for dollars.

Rovio was just the tip of the iceberg. Everyone is trying to get involved in a "goldrush" of funds that have infused the industry with a serious lack of morality.

As I pointed out in a couple of posts recently ( http://yro.slashdot.org/commen... ), it is the mobile analytics market that the NSA is targeting for their data on as many people as possible. Those analytics providers are doing what the NSA cannot do themselves legally--gather data. Analytics providers do the gathering, and the NSA either steals or buys the data. It's as simple as that folks.

The really dirty secret is that pretty much every company out there with an internet presence and a mobile presence (an app) is complicit in this gathering of data, and they all know it. Both The New York Times and The Guardian use the exact same analytics firm that Rovio uses in their mobile game "Angry Birds", yet they are the ones that published articles based on Edward Snowden documents outlining NSA activity that targeted mobile analytics. Hypocrites.

Just to give you an idea of just how big this iceberg is, dig deep in the following webpages--they outline, by connections, a web of investors and customers that are perpetrating a global auction of our privacy.

Amazon -- Seattle, Wa.
https://developer.amazon.com/s...

Jaspersoft -- San Francisco, CA.
https://www.jaspersoft.com/mob...

Google -- San Francisco, CA.
http://www.google.com/analytic...

Flurry -- San Francisco, CA.
http://www.flurry.com/flurry-a...

Localytics -- Boston, MA.
http://www.localytics.com/

Countly -- LIBYA!!....serious wtf here. All contact info is for Libyan addresses.
https://count.ly/products/feat...

Konitgent -- San Francisco, CA.
http://www.kontagent.com/compa...

Webtrends -- Portland, OR.
http://webtrends.com/solutions...

Bango -- London, UK
http://bango.com/corporate/

Apsalar -- San Francisco, CA.
https://apsalar.com/

Piwik -- London, UK
http://piwik.org/what-is-piwik...

Mobilytics (Mobivity) -- Chandler, AZ.
http://www.mobilytics.net/

Adobe -- San Jose, CA.
http://www.adobe.com/solutions...

Openwave Mobility -- Redwood City, CA.
http://owmobility.com/about-us

Mixpanel -- San Francisco, CA.
https://mixpanel.com/

Urban Airship -- San Francisco/London
http://urbanairship.com/produc...

Cognizant -- Teaneck, NJ.
http://www.cognizant.com/enter...

Amethon -- Sydney, AU
http://www.amethon.com/

The ring to rule them all, if you believe the developers..
Segment.io -- San Francisco, CA.
https://segment.io/mobile

For the inner workings, see linked Whitepaper. A good list of other miscreants is included on that

First of all, just because the latest version is available does not by any stroke of the imagination means everybody chooses to upgrade to it. In fact, most users don't because they have no need to do so, as far as they are concerned.

This is demonstrable nonsense. In a week, iOS7 already had a 64% adoption rate. And is up to about 75% now.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/200-million-devices-running-ios-7-five-days-after-launch-64-of-all-idevices-20-million-itunes-radio-listeners/
https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/ios_7

On Android, the adoption rate is snail-like. But that's not a lack of need. It's because most Android users don't have the option.
KitKat has a 0.2% adoption. And even the previous 16 month old version (Jelly Bean) is only up to 62%.
https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/android_kitkat

And no, those browsers are not available for ios. Skins for safari that make them look slike those browsers are available.

Again, that's demonstably false. They ARE available for iOS. You don't get to decide that. Dolphin, that YOU recommended, uses the same Webkit whether on Android or iOS.

Chrome on Android does indeed use Blink, but that was only forked away from Webkit very recently, and there are no significant rendering differences. Blink was forked so that Google could strip out code for non-Google browsers. There's no user impact as of yet.

First of all, just because the latest version is available does not by any stroke of the imagination means everybody chooses to upgrade to it. In fact, most users don't because they have no need to do so, as far as they are concerned.

This is demonstrable nonsense. In a week, iOS7 already had a 64% adoption rate. And is up to about 75% now.
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/200-million-devices-running-ios-7-five-days-after-launch-64-of-all-idevices-20-million-itunes-radio-listeners/
https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/ios_7

On Android, the adoption rate is snail-like. But that's not a lack of need. It's because most Android users don't have the option.
KitKat has a 0.2% adoption. And even the previous 16 month old version (Jelly Bean) is only up to 62%.
https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/android_kitkat

And no, those browsers are not available for ios. Skins for safari that make them look slike those browsers are available.

Again, that's demonstably false. They ARE available for iOS. You don't get to decide that. Dolphin, that YOU recommended, uses the same Webkit whether on Android or iOS.

Chrome on Android does indeed use Blink, but that was only forked away from Webkit very recently, and there are no significant rendering differences. Blink was forked so that Google could strip out code for non-Google browsers. There's no user impact as of yet.

Four days in and just getting to 60%

https://mixpanel.com/trends/#report/ios_7

Most likely more people have updated to IOS 7 than the total number of people who have EVER updated an Android device.

The first sentence of the note reads:

"At Mixpanel, where our hardware is and the platform we use to help us scale has become increasingly important."

I had to read that thing a few times, and mentally insert commas, before it made any sense. There are a number of sentences that display a similar lack of punctuation and proper grammar.

I have always been of the opinion that if you are going to talk smack about someone, do it with style.

I feel much better now. ...