Hi guys, I was wondering if it's still worth it to support OS versions less than 3.0 in my apps? Do you have any idea how many people still use OS less than 3.0? Cheers, ILIYA
People will gripe if you don't. That doesn't necessarily mean a huge amount of sales mind you, but they will complain. If you don't need 3.0 features, why not support older OS versions?
The thing is that I do need OS 3.0 features and it would be quite difficult separating functionality based on OS version.
The OS upgrade is free on the iPhone and cheap for the touch... I wouldn't go too out of your way to support legacy the OS's, particularly if you feel it's difficult to parse out the functionality... Now supporting the legacy hardware is a different matter... certainly try to avoid having core functions of your app that only work on the 3GS unless its absolutely necessary. That's just crippling your market share. (I know that's not direclty what you asked about but it's somewhat related)
Seriously? The iPod touch software is $13! (AUD) C'mon, I already paid like $400 (AUD) for the iPod, why should I have to fork out more money for a pissy little update, especially when iPhone users get it for free!
And then you might consider customers who have Jailbroken devices. Not all of us are willing to upgrade to 3.0, and jailbreak again. And as Hmar9333 said, when you consider how much we pay for the iPod Touch, $13 AUD/$10 USD is a lot of money.
my bad, it's "relatively" cheap... the cost of the OS updates for the touch is rough, but I'd say the added functionality has been worth it so far. From the developers perspective though, people who don't upgrade the OS are also less likely to be buying apps. I just don't think it's worth the effort of the developer to support a likely small portion of their audience (particularly if it cripples or decreases the functionality of their app).
This is probably not your market segment here. If they are unwilling to upgrade their OS for your app/game because of $10 or the time it might take to jailbreak then it isn't worth your time to worry about them. $10 every year for a major OS change really isn't all that much as these two make it out to be. They just feel entitled to it because iPhone users get it free (hint, data cell plan costs monthly charges). I am jailbroken and I bit the bullet because I wanted the 3.0 features. It is worth it considering the little time I invested on jailbreaking again. I am the exact opposite of the two above though. I get mad when devs don't develop for new features and leave the version stale on older OS versions. Just explain in your update why os 3.0 is needed (feature wise) and you should be fine. Yes there will be those that complain but it is what it is. Either move forward or get out of the way.
I've found that it's been worth dropping support for older versions. Initially there were fewer sales, but 3.0 adoption is growing. You also have to take into account that people who upgrade to 3.0 are also more likely to buy apps.
Hi guys, thanks a lot for your comments. It was helpful for me to decide to leave the OS legacy and go for OS 3 and higher only. I need the built-in maps functionality, and this is the feature that I need OS 3 for. Anyway, thanks once again! But if my sales are low, I will blame all of you Just kidding! P.S. Have a look at the app I am talking about: http://www.cramzy.com/AMustGo/ It's still in dev though... I hope to have it released by the end of this week. Cheers, ILIYA
yes! here are some statistics from our games (high score submissions) 2009-06 (june) 522 devices 101 using 3.0 (80% with lower than 3.0) 2009-07 (july) 555 devices 339 using 3.0 1 using 3.1 (38% with lower than 3.0) 2009-08 (august - in progress) 448 devices 223 using 3.0 90 using 3.0.1 1 using 3.1 (29% with lower than 3.0) the numbers are definitely dropping; but they are still two digits percentage wize - and, until this is really a single digit percentage; i would still support it. when it comes to which OS to support - based on our stats; it would be 2.2 at the minimum
Depends your market. If we're talking games for the touch, there are still a lot of users on 2.x. This chart shows a small bar of iPhone users on 2.x, and a large bar of touch users still on 2.x: http://www.sunflat.net/en/iphoneoscount/index.html My own numbers showed about 27% of sessions on 2.x. Code: Firmware Sessions % sess Chart 3.0.1 2110 13.30% ****** 3.1 98 0.60% 3.0 9399 59.00% ****************************** 2.2.1 3817 24.00% ************ 2.2 473 3.00% * 2.0 25 0.20% These numbers are tilted toward pirate jailbreakers, though. I have more leeches than paying customers. Also My game is only for 2.2, so this doesn't have real data on lower versions.
