Apple iOS 7 Two Months After Release: Adoption Rates Cross 70% Mark, Surpassing Those Of Predecessor's

The growth rate of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS 7 mobile-operating system continued to increase within North America two months after the new platform was released to the public on Sept. 18, according to the latest data released by Chitika, a Massachusetts-based online ad network.

Chitika said in its new report on Tuesday that the iOS 7, which generated more than 51 percent of all iOS-based web traffic within North America only a week following its release, surpassed the 70 percent mark within the continent, and if the current trend continues, the iOS 7 is expected to substantially outpace the rate of adoption for iOS 6, which reached 83 percent nearly six months after its release in September 2012.

The new report has broken down iOS 7 adoption by users of Apple’s two flagship devices -- the iPhone and iPad -- and in the case of both devices, a similar picture emerges. According to the report, iPhone users are a little more likely to have updated to iOS 7 as compared to iPad users.

“The greatest difference being that iOS 5- equipped iPad users still generate close to 9% of total North American iPad Web traffic,” the report said. “The slightly lower adoption rate of iOS 7 is likely least partially due to features like AirDrop not coming to the iPad 2 or 3, minimizing the incentive for users of those devices to upgrade.”

According to Chitika, the latest analysis has suggested that iPhone users, and iPad users to a lesser extent, update at exceptionally high rates, acting as a typical selling point when it comes to attracting application and mobile-web developers to the iOS platform.

Although it is unlikely that iOS 7 adoption will substantially improve on the nearly 90 percent adoption rate of the iOS 6, thanks to still-active legacy devices, the new redesigned OS is expected to reach that mark in a much quicker timeframe compared to its predecessor.

To measure iOS version distribution by Apple devices, Chitika examined tens of millions of U.S. and Canadian iOS-based online ad impressions generated within its network between Oct. 25 and Nov. 18, the report said. An ad impression is measured when an individual user loads a page containing Chitika ad code.