Apple proudly touted its latest iPhone 4S sales numbers this morning, having succeeded in selling more than 4 million of the devices over the weekend. Alongisde that announcement comes the news that more than 25 million iOS device owners are now using iOS 5.
The latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system went live last week, five months after being unveiled by Steve Jobs at the World Wide Developer’s Conference. The new operating system seems to be having a strong first week, despite issues experienced by many users when the software was first made available last Wednesday.
The initial demand for iOS 5 put a serious strain on Apple’s activation servers and interrupted the upgrading process for many users. Things got so bad at one point that the phrase “3200 error” was trending on Twitter. The issues were mostly cleared up by Thursday morning.
iPhone 4S Helps Drive iOS 5, But That’s Just a Minority of Installs
Despite a lukewarm initial response to its launch, the iPhone 4S has shattered the company’s sales records, first by exceeding 1 million devices sold in its first day of pre-sale availability, and then this weekend by more than doubling the iPhone 4’s first weekend sales, according to Apple.
While iPhone 4S owners comprised a few million of these iOS 5 users, the vast majority are owners of other devices who have eagerly made the upgrade themselves. This includes all iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS owners, as well as third and fourth generation versions of the iPod Touch.
iOS 5 is one of the most substantial upgrades Apple has pushed out for its mobile operating system. In addition to wireless syncing of apps and content across devices, the new version of the OS features a radically overhauled user notification system, deep Twitter integration, a digital newsstand and about 200 other features.
One feature that doesn’t come with iOS 5 on non-iPhone 4S devices is perhaps the new iPhone’s most talked-about feature: Siri, the voice-controlled “digital personal assistant” that retrieves data and performs actions based on the user’s vocal commands. One developer has claimed to port Siri to the iPhone 4, but it’s not clear how effective that hack is.
