With the upcoming preview of the 3.0 version of the iPhone OS, we took a look at Apple’s past releases to see how long it takes consumers to upgrade their device OS. 

We found a strikingly similar adoption pattern for the releases of the iPhone OS versions 2.1, 2.2, and 2.2.1.  About 30% of requests came from upgraded devices within the first week, and then there was a steady increase in upgrades over next couple months. 

As of Saturday, March 14, 65% of iPhone OS requests in AdMob’s network came from version 2.2.1 that launched on January 27.  26% came from version 2.2, and 7% are still on version 2.1.  This data includes requests from both the iPhone and iPod touch, however both the percentage of traffic and patterns of adoption are similar for both devices.  iPhone developers should take this lag in adoption of the newest iPhone OS into account when releasing sites and apps that take advantage of new features. 

Even with this lag in part of the user base, Apple is light years ahead of some of the other smartphone manufacturers in their ability to quickly push upgrades to their operating system.   Many consumers have Smartphones running Windows Mobile or Symbian for example are running OS versions that are several years old.

Mike F.
Product Marketing