iOS 8 adoption slows to a crawl

When it comes to iOS updates, the assumption is always that users will install the new version relatively quickly. It is one of the points of pride for Apple, when it tries to compare iOS to Android (not that the update speed is a valid comparison anyway). But, Apple is not having such a good time with iOS 8, which is seeing extremely slow adoption.

Apple updated the platform numbers on its developer site today to reflect the numbers gathered yesterday. In the past two weeks, iOS 8 has only gained 1 percentage point, and is now found on 47% of Apple devices. iOS 7 dropped from 49% to 46%, and oddly versions of iOS 6 and lower gained share as well. Of course, this could just be the measurement, because these numbers are gathered the same way we get Android numbers - by the count of devices that access the App Store. So, these are not complete numbers, and may not accurately reflect the ecosystem overall. 

Still, these numbers from Apple do confirm what we've seen from ad-trackers that iOS 8 adoption is slower than previous versions of iOS. Undoubtedly, the massive troubles with the iOS 8.0.1 update have something to do with the slow uptake, but we can't help wonder if there is some other reason why users are lax in updating. Maybe the allure of extensibility doesn't attract iOS users as much as Android fans would expect?

 

 

source: Apple, phonearena