[NewsPoster]

New data from Apple -- based on Sunday traffic at the App Store -- indicates that iOS 8 adoption is actually up to 46 percent of iOS devices, despite lower numbers tracked by third-party firms. Apple's figures put iOS 7 at 49 percent, and iOS 6 or earlier at 5 percent. iOS 8 became available for compatible devices on September 17th, and is pre-installed on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which launched Friday.

While no unexpected problems with the firmware have been reported so far, there are fundamental obstacles to adoption for some users. Devices like the iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch are completely unable to upgrade; the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 can make the leap, but may be too slow. On any device, the iOS 8 installation can demand several gigabytes' worth of temporary space if it's not done through iTunes.

[HappyPhil]

I upgraded an iPhone 5c from iOS 7 to 8 using iTunes and my MacBook Pro. Took less than an hour. The new version still has the industrial hard to see interface as 7. iOS 8 comes with several social share with friends and family that took about 10 minutes to turn off, as did turning off notifications for everything but phone and messages. I don't have any stuff that uses the Health interface, so when all the upgrade fiddling and personalizing was done, my iPhone is much the same as it was with iOS 7. ( I should mention that I have kept iOS 6 on my iPod touch instead of 7 and 8, because I like the easy to read interface with skew-morphing. )