Hopefully there has been some mistake. The iPad 1 is just over two years old. That's not even very old for a phone. Hell, the 3GS is still supported! These are not cheap devices, especially when you get the 3G and big memory.
For a device that's considered by many to be good enough to replace a laptop, cutting of OS updates after such a short time is insane. Within a few months after the release, app developers will no longer make updates for ios5, whether their app needs the new os or not. It's not even about capability or speed. Every update for the iPhone 3G slowed it down considerably until ios4 when it became unusable. Here we are with the first gen iPad and it's running fine on 5.1. There's no reason other than greed to lock us out.
I desperately need a new phone but won't even consider the iPhone 4S due to Apple's forced obsolescence policy for mobile devices. Either I wait until they release 5 and get one the day it comes out or go with droid. Sadly, if they don't support my iPad on ios6, I won't be replacing it. I'll get a Macbook and become one of those people that badmouths tablets. Ignoring the capability vs. weight arguments, at least a four year old Mackbook can run the current OS, which makes it cheaper than the iPad.