“As always, with an iOS update, there is an initial rush of users to the new operating system, and 46% of iOS users had updated as of September 21. However, since then, upgrades have stagnated, with a mere 1% of users updating in the past two weeks,” Kirk McElhearn writes for Kirkville.
“Part of this could be the fact that Apple’s first iOS 8 update – iOS 8.0.1 – caused serious problems for tens of thousands of early adopters,” McElhearn writes. “Personally, I’m taking a step back from the early adoption of my main iOS devices; that debacle was problematic in many ways, and is a sign that Apple is trying to do too much, too quickly. I no longer trust Apple’s quality assurance teams as I did in the past.”
“Apple needs to slow down, make sure that things work, and stop rushing out new hardware, and new operating systems, just to meet their numbers,” McElhearn writes. “It’s time for the company to take a step back and focus on the quality that we used to expect from Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iOS 8.0.1 certainly didn’t help iOS 8 adoption, but we also believe many users are still waiting for their new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus and therefore eschewed upgrading their current iPhones to iOS 8. The popularity of iPhone 6/Plus and the backorders are a contributing factor to the slower ramp for iOS 8 adoption.
And, yes, Apple does need to focus on the quality that we expect from Apple.
Related articles:
Apple iOS 8 adoption around 50%, iPhone 6 adoption sets record – October 6, 2014
Apple says iOS 8 adoption already at 46% – September 23, 2014
Apple needs to get rid of Tim Cook. He is like a cancer that is rotting Apple from the inside.
Who are these Windows trolls trying to get Cook disposed? Looking for a successor at Microshaft already?
You are such a idiot! Glad you don’t work where I work.
I doubt if he works anywhere.
Hi Joe,
Perhaps you’d like to recommend Mr. Ballmer for the job of Apple CEO, after the remarkable job he did with Microsoft.
Perhaps you’d also like to tell us how many multi-Gigabuck corporations you’ve been CEO of.
Or, perhaps, you’d rather just Foxtrot Oscar, pal!
When we want an opinion from you, Joe, we’ll give it to you.
Don’t be such a twat, Joe!
We need to get rid of people named Joe. After all, they’re nothing special, just “average”.
It seems obvious that the “not enough space” message is stopping people from installing iOS 8. Why Apple is not getting the word out about updating from a Mac or PC with iTunes as an alternative to a broadband download installation is unfathomable.
Yep … I had to upgrade my wife’s phone that way because she didn’t have enough space.
My parents haven’t upgraded either … likely for the same reason. When the updates takes almost 6 GB of space, this will be the reason most people don’t update…
Saw two friends pass upgrade due to ‘not enough space’ but should Apple really be selling 16gb iPhones and iPads. A lot of these folks don’t use or get the iTunes option.
I wish iOS was truly independent of PCs and we didn’t need iTunes to upgrade the iOS.
There must be a solution to this problem
It IS independent it is just easier to install with limited available space when done through iTunes. All I had to do was erase a couple seldom used high file size games, upgrade and then download the games again.
But I don’t know many average folks who would bother doing that. Which is a shame because iOS 8.0.2 is awesome.
Reason:
Waiting for new phone and not interested in upgrading current one
Well I have to say that I love 8.02 on my iPad. However it has caused mw wifi problems i.e. it loses its connection from time to time. Thankfully I discovered that turning airplane mode on and off clears the problem but it sounds like a very similar problem that blitzed the iPhones with iOS 8.01. Hope its not a common problem.Otherwise it generally runs smoother than 7 but I think page loads seem a little more drawn out.
Have you tried a fresh install? My 8.0.0 and 8.0.2 had huge issues with everything- on iPhone 5 and iPad.
Phone AppleCare and they said it’s the upgrade path that is affecting people. Do a fresh install and then restore from backup.
I was skeptical but they were right – amazing difference. I reset network settings after restore too just to be sure
I am waiting for Yosemite, before I update to iOS8
This is right on the money. They need to stabilize Lion, Mountain Lion and Maverick BEFORE they move on to the next.
There are bugs in their OS that I just live with, like I do with Microsoft, however, unlike Microsof, I’m paying top dollar.
So far, everything I’ve gotten from Apple in the last 2 years has brim one notch above crap (Magic Mouse clinking issues, Mac mini graphic drive issues, iPhone button issue and software bugs after software bugs after software bugs).
I’m getting SICK of them.
I upgraded one of my iPads to test. I am holding off on the rest do issues that crop up ever time they do a new OS. They broke authentication over cellular to an IIS server so no work apps will work. I have heard that is fixed in 8.1 beta so hold out for that. I don’t understand why thinks that work fine always break on a new OS. Leave that stuff alone.
This highlights an issue with adoption by business/enterprise, which Apple isn’t directly after but we know there’s a huge number sold to that market.
Without the ability to downgrade back to the previous major iOS version, there’s no “rolling back” to something known to work. After updating, you’re now at the mercy of Apple’s release schedule, and except to fix major problems like in 8.0.1, that’s usually a few weeks between updates.
Larger businesses’ IT are always slower to adopt, so no surprises there.
Meanwhile, smaller companies or self-employed with fewe or no non-production iPhones/iPads to test iOS upgrades on, must wait at least a couple of releases and let others try things out, before they risk their own devices.
In the past, some people upgraded their work phones in the first days of a release and then complained that it broke something. Everyone who bashed them for being impulsive, and what the hell were they thinking installing new releases on a *work* phone… well, you got your wish, they listened and no longer update right away.
Three factors are slowing adoption:
– waiting for OS X Yosemite, as continuity features don’t work across platforms without it. Ditto with iCloud drive functionality. Both are roll-out / scheduling snafus on Apple’s part.
– the iOS 8.0.1 rollout fiasco further contributed to numerous people being gun shy before updating.
– the out of memory message, prevents updates, and a failure to display an appropriate error message guiding the users to performing the update via iTunes keeps users stuck at that stage.
‘Waiting for their iPhone 6’ has nothing to do with such a delay. In fact, if anything, those who ordered iPhone 6 would have an active motivation to update, in preparation, as the iPhone 6 would ship with iOS 8 installed.
Apple needs to get iOS 8.1 out there pronto.
8.1.02
🙂
Certainly there are some issues with iOS 8 that are bloody annoying, particularly one that affects iBooks on my Pad, where it crashes after a couple of pages and reverts to the same page when it’s restarted. I’ve discovered after doing a search that switching off wifi while iBooks is open stops it crashing, which is a bit of a pain, but not too big an issue. I’d like it fixed, though.
Overall, though, I do like some of the new features, so once the bugs have been killed off it’ll be a great OS.
“And, yes, Apple does need to focus on the quality that we expect from Apple.”
Exactly.
Yes the human quality, the quality to make mistakes and rectify them. It wasn’t long ago that Apple came out with this mistake.
An apt observation, but other than being design over ergonomics, the round mouse functioned well to its intended purpose. Unlike iOS8, adding a round mouse to an existing Mac did not break your internet connection, disable your printer access, lock up your keyboard, or worse, brick your Mac. Apple’s “iCloud” bug alone has seen many NEW iPhones rendered useless. It began with iOS4 bricking 3G users and has become all too common to each “upgrade”. People are right to be very wary now, especially since Apple refuses to offer a back-out route.
I’ve got iOS8 on my iPad Air and mini Retina but not on my 4S which will soon (hopefully!) get replaced by the 6 Plus. Didn’t like the thought of a performance hit on the 4S with iOS8.
And there are a number of us who won’t update until a jailbreak comes out for 8
Good take. Let’s wait a month or two and then revisit this.
iCal’d!
Having used, and loved, Apple products for over 25 years, I’ve always been an early adopter. I’ve never really had any significant issues to deal with … until now.
Our wonderful new little big iPhone 6s got bricked with iOS 8.0.1 and were out of action for almost a day. Full credit to Apple for the quick fix, but still, why should this have ever happened?
And now our iPad Airs (still the current model) have been rendered almost useless as a result of iOS 8. The WiFi is completely up the swanny – we stream with it all the time, so we’re going bonkers . My wife was wondering whether it was worth holding onto her iPad it if this is what she should expect from Apple in the future. I’ve downgraded her iPad to iOS 7.1.2 to fix her problems. She’s now a happy bunny.
And so, I think I’m putting the ‘early adopter’ moniker on hold in the hope that Apple can restore my confidence in their software upgrades in the future.
Sadly, I’m not surprised that the adoption rate of iOS 8 is slower than iOS 7.
iPhone 6s?
plural… more than one iPhone 6.
Maybe they have devices that cannot run iOS8.
I honestly don’t think it’s because people are holding off for the iPhone 6 that they are about to receive/purchase. If anything, I would be excited to get a preview of the OS and install iOS 8 as soon as possible. Which is exactly what I did while I’m waiting for my 6 Plus. What did put me off, was that I needed approximately 4-6 GB on the iPhone and iPad, respectively for an over the Air update. Most people have a “budgeted” 16 GB so I think that’s the main reason why the adoption has stagnated. Apple does a poor job informing people about being able to update their iDevice on iTunes without the same required free space. Heck, I didn’t even know before last week.
It’s because of all the bugs.
iOS 8 has made my iPad just about unusable, very slow and hangs a lot.
Wife’s iPhone 5s will no longer connect to in car Bluetooth correctly, 2012 Volvo S60.
IOS 8.02 seems fine on my iPad3 but is sluggish on my wife’s Ipad2. Maybe that’s why adoption is stagnant – lots of older IOS device users out there that are not having a good experience.
Put it on my iPad mini Retina at launch. Not my Air nor any of my other iPads (I own them all). iPhone 5S too full to upgrade without deleting 6GB of stuff. Thank God we finally get a 128GB model. My Plus delivers Friday October 10 from a September 12 order.
Waiting for my 6+…No need to upgrade my 4S.
Didn’t realize iOS 8 was such a disaster.
Because Apple foolishly did not explain to users that they didn’t need to clear 5.3GB of space on their 16GB iPhones if they installed the update through iTunes on their computer.
Instead of a pop-up message telling users they don’t have enough space, perhaps include this helpful bit of info.
iOS 7 was ugly enough.
8 is just as ugly. At least 7 worked.
The problem with the MDN take is that while there is a huge back order of the new iPhones, Apple has delivered far more new iPhones this time than in previous years. That alone should be boosting the numbers.
My guess is that a lot more people aren’t syncing via iTunes anymore. As such it never occurred to them that they could plug in their iPhone and upgrade regardless of how much free space they had. So instead, they try to do an OTA upgrade and get a message saying that they don’t have enough space.
It’s worth looking at the methodology of Apple’s statistics.
Apple arrives at the number by looking at the number of visitors to the App Store on a particular day. It can see what version of iOS each visitor is using and then publishes this information for developers.
This information is useful for developers (although it’s also available to the general public), but it really should be put in that context.
The immediate flaw from this data should be obvious. At launch, a lot of people with new iPhones are going to be shopping for new apps. With a new version of iOS, a lot of people are going to be going to the store to find compatible apps and upgrades. So the initial numbers are going to be inflated and over the course of the year balance out to better reflect the actual use.
If you’re a non-tethered-to-iTunes user, you’re going to go to the App Store on your iOS device for every app you get.
If you sync with iTunes, you might never go to the App Store on your iOS device, but instead use iTunes to grab all of your apps… which then doesn’t provide feedback to Apple for which version of iOS you have installed.
So now with a much larger ratio of non-tethered users to iTunes syncers, we should see a huge immediate uptiake from those who can (easily) as well as from new devices, but that number will hit a ceiling once a large segment of users don’t upgrade because they don’t have free space and attempted to do an OTA upgrade. These very same non-tethered users, are the ones who only visit the App Store on their iOS device.
I’m pretty sure that Apple is using hits to the store checking for updates, not actual visits. And I’m sure that iOS devices check for updates at least once a day, if not more.
No, it’s total visits to the App Store. It’s from their web log stats. It’s specifically geared at providing developers with data.