Posted by Dan Deeth in 
As you can see in the photo above (yes, I’m already running iOS 7), some of the apps publishing updates are among the most popular in the App Store. This means that many subscribers are likely getting prompted for updates already as well.
Below is a chart from a single North American fixed operator comparing Apple App Store traffic yesterday, with that of the previous two Tuesdays in September. The chart shows yesterday’s traffic being fairly average during the day, but then a significant uptick in traffic occurred as iOS 7 compatible apps were released in the evening, with the App Store generating 74% more traffic between the hours of 8PM and midnight EDT.
Major software releases from Apple actually have a larger impact on fixed networks than mobile, because Apple prevents users from updating apps over 50MB (Edit: Looks like Apple raised the limit to 100MB today.) using their cellular radio. This means that major OS updates, and large apps such as games need to be downloaded on fixed networks and then devices updated via Wi-Fi or through iTunes.
When I installed the gold master version of iOS 7 on my iPhone it was 1.2GB in size, and when you combine that with the multitude of app updates developers are pushing out I would expect to once again see a significant spike in traffic to Apple’s update servers today.
Be sure to check back tomorrow, for a detailed analysis on the impact that the launch of iOS 7 made.
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