iOS 8 Adoption Rate Pushes 80 Percent

The number of iOS 8 installations continues its upward march towards the 80 percent threshold. This magic number represents the iOS 7 adoption rate at roughly this time last year. While iOS 8 lags slightly behind according to Apple's Developer page, other reports show that the 80 percent level has already been reached.

In any case, iOS 8.2 was released on March 9 and is the first version to include Apple Watch support. In addition to stability enhancements and bug fixes, iOS 8.2 also includes several improvements to the Health App. iOS devices still running iOS 7 has dropped to 20 percent, with older versions comprising just 3 percent of the total. As always, these statistics from Apple only include devices compatible with iOS 8.

Besides the Apple Watch launch coming next month, iOS 8.3 will feature the first public beta test of Apple's mobile operating system. Available to 100,000 members of the Apple Beta Software Program, the release of iOS 8.3 beyond developers and employees will bring more data to Apple regarding bugs and issues that need fixing. iOS 8.3 will include new Emoji characters, Wireless CarPlay and Siri enhancements among other improvements.

Rumors are flying ahead of the WWDC this year, with Apple expected to make a number of announcements. iOS 9.0 is sure to be one of the new developments, and will become part of the Beta Software Program this summer. The major update has been rumored to include many optimizations and refinements, focusing mainly on stability over the bevy of new features introduced with iOS 8.