iOS 6.1 Adoption Rate 22% In 36 Hours After Launch

Yes I have been very critical of Apple’s iOS 6.1 update and really iOS 6 in general. I didn’t think that Apple put all their best into it and hence was nothing new and exciting, but really just more polish on an already finely tuned OS. There are already a lot of rumors that iOS 7 will be the game changer but that is not likely to launch until 2014 as we expect another update to come with the iPhone 5S this summer. So how is iOS 6.1 doing since launch earlier this week? Try 22% adoption rate in 36 hours after launch! Definitely proving that Apple has its over the air updating system down to a science. It was 100mb and downloaded perfectly and the installation went as smoothly as could be expected.
This data, collected by Onswipe says that it sampled information from 13 million active members. Onswipe CEO Jason Baptiste says that for example, iOS 6 when launched grabbed almost 45% of those Onswipe surveyed in one weeks time. Jason says that Apple’s OTA updates have become very popular now that it has been out since 2011 and as I mentioned, works pretty damn well. Onswipe says by comparison, Android’s latest OS Jellybean which has been out since July 2012 has only a 10% adoption rate. Some would argue that Android is installed on a very wide range of devices across many different manufacturers. As a result fragmentation is a huge complaint among Android device owners. But hardware should not be the main argument for Android as Apple now installs the same update across 4 different device platforms as well as tablets. It is in the manufacturers direction that the problem rests but with the hardware improvements driving sales and not just OS upgrades, I don’t think you will see manufactures who are making Android devices complaining too much. It will be interesting to see how Windows Phone owners with 7.5 eligible for the 7.8 adopt. Microsoft, who developed the Windows Phone OS, similarly to Apple, controls every aspect of the OS including hardware. But with today’s release of 7.8 to just Nokia Lumia owners, I do not look for a significant adoption rate in the 36 hours or even a week. I’m personally not that critical of WP because of the length of time it took to roll out the 7.8 update even after they launched a completely overhauled Windows Phone 8 on several new devices. I still give them a pass and props for even eventually releasing an “underwhelming” 7.8 update to the Lumia 900 today. If Microsoft continues to look over Apple’s shoulder at their playbook, close control of the device manufacturers and hardware will help them roll out updates OTA in the future to a wider range of devices.
So hats off to Apple for another great roll out of an OS update. Say what you will, and you know I will, about the OS! But Apple has got it’s act together and iOS remains a highly reliable polished OS.

[via Techcrunch]