Apple and iOS 8

Apple claims to have presold 4 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus units in the first 24 hours of their being available for prebooking. This is about twice more than the iPhone 5 offerings in 2012, and investors are thus optimistic about the success of the new iPhones. Many predict more than 60 million sales in the coming holiday quarter.

This hardly surprises me, when the Company, (who have reportedly spent more than 100 million in marketing the U2 album), responded to iTunes account holders' displeasure at being forced to "purchase" the free album, by launching on Monday a support page with a direct link allowing us to remove "Songs of Innocence" from our devices. “Once the album has been removed from your account, it will no longer be available for you to redownload as a previous purchase,” reads the support page. If we change our minds before October 13, we can download the album again. For free.

This, to me, speaks volumes about Apple's care for its customers.

Meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently for iOS 8 -- "The biggest iOS release ever." -- to arrive. Here's how I'm preparing my iDevices (iPhone and iPad) for it. Basically just two steps...

Back up: As with any new installation, I will first back up my data beforehand. I usually do this through iTunes on my Mac, but you can also use iCloud.

I launch iTunes on my Mac and plug in my iDevices as usual via the trusty iOS cable. I select my iDevice in iTunes, choose the Summary tab, and click "Back Up Now" in the appropriate area.

Install: I will then proceed to install iOS 8. I usually don't do a "Clean install, preferring to just use the "Over the Air" option.

I have never personally had a problem with earlier iOS releases, but the choice is yours.