iOS 8 has only been out a short amount of time, but Apple’s already keen that it takes over as the company’s go-to mobile OS.
In a new posting on its developer portal, Apple announced that starting February 1, 2015, all new iOS apps uploaded to the App Store must include 64-bit support, and be built using the iOS 8 SDK, included in Xcode 6 or later.
Apple has been pushing developers to support the latest versions of its OS faster than ever over the past several years.
During the recent iPad announcement on October 16, Craig Federighi crowed over the high adoption rates of new iOS versions compared to the dismal take-up of the latest versions of Android.
However, while Apple certainly loves to tout how many people quickly update to its newest software, in the case of iOS 8 this isn’t taking place as quickly as usual — despite the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus being Apple’s best-selling handsets to date. Adoption currently hovers around the 48% mark.
Maybe this move can help change that.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
