Chitika research:
One week following its release on September 18, 2013, iOS 7 users were generating more than 51% of all iOS-based Web traffic within North America. Growth has continued through the following two months, with iOS 7 usage rates surpassing the 70% mark within the continent. This makes it very likely that iOS 7 will continue to substantially outpace iOS 6 adoption, which reached 83% close to six months following its release in September 2012.
Meanwhile, Android is poking along:
Google’s latest OS dashboard reveals that 1.1 percent of active Android devices are running the new platform roughly a month after it became available. Not that its arrival is slowing down Jelly Bean’s growth, mind you. The older software now represents 54.5 percent of all Android use.
When you release a new version of your OS, the older version should drop, not gain in popularity.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if Apple allowed a user to roll back. Most of my friends are, like me, over 50 and most, like me, either didn’t upgrade or regretted it. iOS7 creates a lot of problems for some people with low vision, or even just aging eyes.
Too bad, pal. I’m 64, I don’t wear glasses, and I love iOS 7. It’s a huge step forward. Glad to see its burgeoning popularity.
Isn’t this because the carriers don’t control what phones Apple releases and when iPhones get the latest software? Basically Android OEMs are just slaves to the carriers.
But couldn’t you say the same thing about iOS 6 when it came out? I’m sure plenty of people either didn’t upgrade or would have rolled back, especially for Google maps.
Partially, yes. You also have device manufacturers who customize Android and do not swiftly update to the latest.
Android is just like iOS in that when it is released people can get it but device is the deciding factor there then the carrier. Go Nexus and you’re already on 4.4, which more people are starting to do.
Doubt it. 6 wasn’t a big deal from 5. 7 from 6 was a major change.
As always, it is important to note the Chitika stats are ad impressions from within their own ad network and is not a precise number from Apple. The number could be higher or lower based on the limited amount of sites Chitika has at its disposal.
Good indicator of 7’s adoption though.
We picked up these stats in a post on Operation Gadget and turned them on their head by focusing on Android adoption rates.
How is it possible that only 1.1% of all android devices are running KitKat now?
How do Android developers sleep at night, knowing that they have to support Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, and KitKat, and that only allows them to run on 74.3% of all active Android phones?
We sleep fine because our code is backwards compatible through the Support Library. KitKat is relatively new as well with no ~5 month lead time for developers to prep apps so there aren’t really many KitKat specific apps out.
Many of the new APIs are released in a support library which works on older versions. Google Play Services updates automatically on older devices, so the Google APIs are available as well.
Aside from that, good code structure helps. Really, it isn’t a problem in most cases.
Yep. It’s an old talking point people reiterate without much knowledge on the matter.
So you are saying that this is the way that Google routes around the issues associated with carrier and phone vendor involvement in OS updates? Sounds pretty ingenious to me.
What is the impact of vendor customizations on actual user experience with apps that are designed for newer versions of Android?
I am asking these questions because I use iOS, but have seen PhoneGap apps that I am working on compile and deploy to recent versions of Android, but I don’t fully understand the process.
Thanks. As I said to John C. Bland II, I am new to the business of deploying cross platform apps, and my experience is almost 100% iOS at this point.
The questions I ask probably aren’t as rhetorical as they sound. I really didn’t understand why the Android market is evolving in this fashion.
Very ingenious. They extracted all of their customized apps from Android and put them in the Play Store. Each app is updated separately from the OS. Then they extracted Play Services [what we devs use] and made that available directly.
This means they can make updates back to Gingerbread, I believe. It also means developers can relax and just implement most new features without littering their code with version checking code.
As for the vendors, they don’t customize much beyond the core OS: app drawer, home screen, notification drawer, and settings. Beyond that there isn’t too much vendor specific stuff unless you’re building specifically for the vendor features [ie – Samsung’s pen support, etc]. Good just got tired of waiting on vendors and this sort of posts so they found a way to resolve the matter another way.
No worries on asking the questions. Feel free to hit me on G+ or my blog [johncblandii.com] and I will happily discuss more. I’m very familiar w/ Phonegap as well [large app at work uses it] so can answer questions regarding that too.
i do really enjoy the new functionality of iOS7, but i certainly sympathize on the fonts and weakened in-app icons (Safari I’m looking at you), both of which cost more cycles to interpret. im 37, have perfect vision, and dont like the overuse of thinly stroked type. like much in life, going to the extreme is rarely a great idea. heavier weighted type has a functional purpose, and i can see where its absence damages the UX.
i do really enjoy the new functionality of iOS7, but i certainly sympathize on the fonts and weakened in-app icons (Safari I’m looking at you), both of which cost more cycles to interpret. im 37, have perfect vision, and dont like the overuse of thinly stroked type. like much in life, going to the extreme is rarely a great idea. heavier weighted type has a functional purpose, and i can see where its absence damages the UX.
define “more”
define “more”
“a greater or additional amount or degree.”
you can adjust the size of the type so much – I don’t see why people would have had any vision issues – but then again some people don’t look at their setting zone. wish they would – I am older and love the intuitiveness of this iOS 7
iOS 7 — one word many times over SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED SPEED okay one more FAST! … go backwards? NEVER PEOPLE!
You can adjust the type but the app has to support the type adjustment. It also is not reflected in Springboard so your app names and folders stay the same size.
I think that’s ok because you can “read” by icon but OS level font changes mean nothing if the apps don’t respect the system font size. I just changed mine and 3 apps completely ignore it, including one I’m working on.