iOS 6 Adoption Tops 25% After Just 48 Hours 513
An anonymous reader writes "iOS 6 has seen rapid adoption among iPhone and iPad users, reports developer David Smith. Smith's applications like Audiobooks get around 100k downloads weekly and he's taken to mapping the adoption of Apple's software releases over the last couple of years. This update's data shows a 35.4% adoption of iOS 6, with iOS 5.x holding court at 71.5% adoption. That's a pretty rapid pace, eclipsing Android Jelly Bean's 2-month adoption levels of 1.2% easily."
Always with the jabs (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, because comparing the release of Jelly Bean on a multitude of manufacturer, carrier, and hardware platforms is an entirely reasonable comparison to the release of an iOS locked to specific hardware, from one manufacturer.
Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a pretty rapid pace, eclipsing Android Jelly Bean's 2-month adoption levels of 1.2% easily
Of course Jelly Bean's adoption level is very low because what, 3-4 devices support Jelly Bean officially? And those 3-4 devices are a small percentage of all Android devices. Heck, even the "flagship" Android phone the Galaxy S III won't be getting Jelly Bean until the end of September or later. While all iOS devices are Apple phones/tablets/media players and the iOS 6 update is available for all of them made within the past couple of years.
Get a Jobs (Score:5, Insightful)
The good news about living in a walled garden is that you benefit from Steve Jobs's obsessive need for state of the art. The bad news about living in a walled garden is that you have to live with his obsession for control.
And yes, I know he's dead. But his obsessions live!
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:2, Insightful)
While all iOS devices are Apple phones/tablets/media players and the iOS 6 update is available for all of them made within the past couple of years.
Apple has auto-update enabled and often forced on their products and their target audience is not the technically adept. The average person doesn't go into options or configuration menus often, if ever. A lot of techies disable auto-update for a number of reasons, including hacking their phones so that leaving auto-update enabled could cause accidental bricking. As well, Apple's product line is, as you mentioned, rather exclusive: iOS only runs on one company's hardware. Android runs on dozens.
Anyway, let's be honest about one other issue: vendor support. Android may run on more devices, have more features, and be considerably more complex and open than iOS, but when it comes to the phone manufacturer standing behind their product, they give a resounding "Fuck you" to the customer. Apple products are still supported and actively maintained for several years after launch. Samsung, HPC, etc., might make one, maybe two updates for your phone. Ever. Six months from now, they'll be releasing another $600 retail phone to much fanfare, and your phone, which they promised upgrades for years, is forgotten.
Which is probably why even if tomorrow Google released a version of Android which gave the user orgasms with the push of a button, they still wouldn't gain much market share... in six months, there'd be "Orgasm with cigarette and cheesecake" released and Orgasm 1.0 would develop some horrible security flaw that would render you sterile and break out in boils, and the vendor would tell you they plan a fix... eventually... but hey, in the mean time, have you checked our our commercials for the next version?
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
> Of course adoption is sky high; it's 1 phone
3 old and one new phone, actually; and a few models of iPod and 2 models of iPad, plus several carriers and several cellular technologies.
> and when iDrones see an update notification they
> automatically do it.
That's the whole point. They don't update because they're "iDrones", they update because it fucking works.
> And lets not forget that most updates to iTunes force
> you to update the iPhone software to work correctly.
Bullshit. Every so often, you're forced to update iTunes to work with the newest OS, but this week's iTunes still works with my five-year-old original iPhone on iOS 3.x. You might need to update to the newest minor version in some cases (I'm not sure about that, but I'll go ahead and concede that to make my next point) but why not? THIS WHOLE SHIT IS SUPPOSED TO WORK.
You're missing the forest for the trees. The fact that it's newsworthy that one company has made software updates work pretty smoothly in 2012 is pretty fucking sad.
Partly this is Android being jerked around by the carriers, but it's also a matter of a bunch of OEMs who don't give a shit about a device once it's been sold, compared to the one company that actually wants you to be a happy customer and voluntarily return to buy more, and not just say "Well my old phone from X sucks, so I'll get a new one, but I'll stick with X, because all the rest are probably just as bad and at least I'm familiar with this one."
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Always with the jabs (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple controls the hardware and software. You're singling out a specific version of the Galaxy Nexus which is renown for having compatibility issues (different antenna if I'm not mistaken) and for being bogged down by Verizon's stupid involvement.
My Nexus S has had Jelly Bean since roughly two weeks after it was announced. OTA updates were available worldwide within the same timeframe. My Transformer received it a month or so later, and that's to account for the docking station support, specific drivers, etc.
You just can't compare the two platforms. If what you want is a closed, smooth environment, go for Apple. If you want an open environment, with both the good and bad that that implies, go Android. It's simple really.
Re:Okay? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
Maps and navigation are a big deal on smartphones. Phone calls are their most important function, but Internet browsing and maps/navigation vie for the second most important feature.
And no, Google Maps doesn't even begin to approach this failure. Not even close. Aside from the horrific rendering, missing roads, and an inability to find what should be obvious searches, it doesn't even attempt to duplicate useful functionaly present in Google Maps. Public transportation? Use 3rd-party apps. Walking directions? Lol who walks these days?
Apple fans agree. [macrumors.com]
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Actually... (Score:5, Insightful)
If I wanted polarized arguments with neither side bothering to think at all I'd go read about politics. It is a statistic, not grounds for a holy war. Why isn't anyone here talking about a technical solution to increase that adoption rate? That is what this real nerd was hoping to see here. I wonder what percentage of those are new devices that shipped with ios6? Did his math account for people with new devices being forced to re-download his app? This clearly doesn't show any indication of software upgrade rates on old hardware, but mathematically they must be lower than overall adoption rates since 100% of new iphones are on ios6.
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
If it just works, why upgrade? They upgrade because they are fans of Apple and they want the new features, not simply because it "works." Some people love that ecosystem. Some people feel that choice is more important that "smooth updates". YMMV. A feature has been deemed compelling by the iPhone fans and they have responded with upgrading. "It just works" is only a side effect of controlling both sides of the equation (phone/OS). The vibe I get from a great many Apple users reminds me of status and one-upping the next person. Is the iPhone 4S a hunk of crap now that the new iPhone is out? Certainly not, but some people (regardless of ecosystem) want the "latest and greatest" of everything. It just seems that a majority of those who are attracted to Apple products are not tinkerers and hobbyists (among other things), but people who view computers and phones as an appliance. I was not a typical Apple customer. I enjoyed tinkering with OS X. I skinned it early on with hacks, I fiddled with all sorts of things under the hood. I returned to Linux to continue to do that... :)
I disagree. To me, Apple has not been concerned about happy customers. They are concerned with their brand recognition and reputation. They only want dependency, just like every other company. The difference between Apple and say, Microsoft, is that Apple is willing to charge into new markets, leaving old ones behind. With an enigmatic and charismatic leader like Jobs, they were able to pull that off successfully (upon his return to Apple). I don't know how well that will work without "His Steveness". They didn't call it a reality distortion field for nothing... I am not demonizing Apple or lauding Android. I like what I like. It just so happens that I used to like Apple's OS X, but I have never liked their phone. My Mac Mini is on its way to being a Linux box. I have been a Linux user off and on since college. What I have learned is that I can work better in Linux than I can any other OS. That is just me, though, and it is my personal opinion. YMMV. No warranties expressed or implied. Operators are standing by.
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
And did we mention that most people used the over the air direct from the cloud update method.
Which in fact is one of the reasons that people upgrade so fast. Its just so fscking easy. Settings / General / Software Update, click yes. Half hour later and your iDevice is running the new OS.
And what three year old Android anything gets the same update as the current models (bad comparison, the current android models don't always have the current software either...) :-)
Re:Customer focus (Score:5, Insightful)
i work for ATT, as stated in a previous post, and the carrier does let you fuck with your device software, like ATT customers cannot use Facetime over the network unless they are are on certain data plans, which is flag created by apple, because they get a percentage of the cost of the data plans, and stand to make more money... not the US but Apple...
And Apple rules at ATT is that if you want to upgrade before you contract is over, you pay 250 bucks plus the cost of the upgrade.
But then I know shite about Apple...
And this is why people hate AT&T with a passion. It's even worse when employees of AT&T actually believe this crap. "It's Apple's fault we have to charge more for FaceTime over cellular" when AT&T is the ONLY carrier in the US to do this. Sprint, T-Mobile (see Unlocked & Unlimited promo), and Verizon have all made it clear they don't charge extra for FaceTime.
Data is data.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
You know what would be even nicer than acknowledging the problem? Allowing their users to choose which map program they want to use, instead of forcing them to be pawns in Apple's war on Google.
Re:Comparing 2 different things... (Score:5, Insightful)
"who view phones and computers as appliances"
I view my phone as an appliance, yes. Not my computers though. That's the main reason I DO want a simple, appliance-like phone ... I have computers for tinkering around with and hacking and customising etc. But my phone is an important tool and I can't afford it to randomly get all glitchy or crashy when I'm trying to do something important with it. I want it to be a reliable, stable, platform for making calls, checking my email and browsing the web when I'm out and about (plus navigation and games etc.) I am willing to give away a bit of flexibility in order to get that stability and ease of use (though mind you, the default way iOS does things is usually similar to what I would have wanted anyway, and apps allow you to do almost anything).
It unclutters my life (and my head!) - when I'm tearing my hair out about some weird software bug on my PC or trying to get some obscure driver working on my Linux box etc, it's nice to have at least one device I can fall back on knowing it will 'just work' with zero fiddling around.
Nothing against those that DO like to tinker with their phones - more power to them. But I haven't got the time in the day to do that with my phone in addition to all the other hardware I play around with. So yes, my phone is an appliance, much like my stereo system or my microwave.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yawn, call me when Google Maps starts misspelling or misplacing capital cities of several countries around the world.
Man some of you guys have been severely blinded by the shiny. Steve is dead, you can come back to reality now.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure their implementation is new and Apple deserves some slack for thaT
They deserve slack for replacing a well known, well tested, highly reliable and popular service with their in-house verison which is apparently poorly tested and unpopular-- all in the name of a popularity contest?
No, they took a gamble to try to marginalize Google, and apparently its half baked. I see no reason anyone would give them slack.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
Isnt IOS 6 a free upgrade? And compatible across ~90% of apple devices?
Im gonna guess THAT is why the adoption rate is so high, not because Apple is good at bilking money out of users (which is irrelevant if the update is, in fact, free).
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:4, Insightful)
That would be nice, but this is Apple we're talking about. They've proven over and over how petty and vindictive and what control freaks they are. If you continue to be a customer of theirs, you have to know what you're getting into, and expecting good behavior from them is naive in the extreme.
Re:Always with the jabs (Score:5, Insightful)
Is it really your position that only some kind of obsessed fanboy would update their software?
No, it's my position that a lot of people accepting an update is not news.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:1, Insightful)
In other words users that upgrade will lose this feature (and it is a very heavily used feature) because Apple decided to replace the google app with a beta product.
I'd rather have late upgrades (and my provider usually provides them resonably quickly) than upgrades which remove functionality.
Re:Here is a hint: Stay away from numbers (Score:5, Insightful)
You don't have the capacity to read numbers right and are too stupid to work with them
Here is a clue: That 71.5% is out of the 35.4%.
I know ... you are probably too dumb to understand that direct response too. After all ... it has numbers.
I'm too dumb to understand that. 71.5% out of the 35.4% are running ios6? and the 35.4 are running either ios6 or ios5? WHAT THE FUCK KIND OF REPORTING IS THAT??
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:3, Insightful)
And the bad is? (Score:1, Insightful)
Since it has been widely recognized that Steve Jobs was an absolute asshole, how exactly is him killing himself through his asshole attitudes a bad thing?
At least he finally did something good with his dead. Homeopathy does not work. If it doesn't work for the rich and evil, it won't work for you. Get real medicine from real doctors.
Re:Good luck with those new map service. (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, there is certainly plenty of fault to go around:
1. You don't have to break maps to deploy security updates.
2. The android practice of not deploying security updates is one day going to lead to a massive cataclysm. If somebody manages to come up with some kind of email worm for Android you're going to see some fun times as the vendors tell everybody to just throw out their six-month-old phones and buy new ones.
Re:Always with the jabs (Score:4, Insightful)
Phones abandoned while still under contract? Try phones are abandoned while they're still being sold in stores.
If an update comes out while the phone is still fairly new it probably will get it. The Galaxy S3 is an example - it is STILL running ICS but being a flagship phone it will probably get JB. Well, unless it turns out like the Galaxy S which was the subject of debate for a year or so back when Froyo or whatever came out.
Even the Nexus phones are generally abandoned about 1.5 years after they are FIRST sold (and the Galaxy Nexus is almost a year old now, so expect that to maybe get one more major version update next Spring/Summer).
I love Android, but their updates are REALLY poor. If you buy an iPhone every two years, you're basically guaranteed to always have the latest OS (well, aside from stuff like Siri, which I do think counts, but that is the exception). If you buy an Android Nexus model every two years you might or might not be able to run the latest OS the whole time - if you get your phones the day they come out you probably will get them all, otherwise you'll probably be six months stale come replacement time.
Re:Actually... (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you're missing the point. Sure, the article is talking about deployment rates, but the bigger issue is that there is even an update to be deployed. With iOS you get updates for years after getting your device, period. With Android you're lucky to get an update while the thing is still being sold in stores. The actual deployments are reasonably fast (though generally slower with Android - which I think is sane from a QA perspective). They just never happen unless you buy a Nexus device, and even then only for 1.5 years after they are FIRST sold.
If you bought a brand new Nexus phone two years ago, you wouldn't even be running ICS, let alone Jelly Bean. A brand new Nexus phone two years ago would have been the Nexus One. If you bought a brand new Nexus phone a year before that you wouldn't have gotten a single software update - that would have been the ADP and it never even got Eclair.
Re:Always with the jabs (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, particularly where updates are concerned, Android doesn't seem very open. You yourself cite "Verizon's stupid involvement" as an excuse.
iOS is closed, but it's maintained by a company that has a vested interest in having it work well. Android itself is (mostly) open, but most of the actual implementations you can buy are considerably less so, and are maintained by companies that have demonstrated they couldn't care less about how well it works.