How Badly Did Apple's Maps Blunder Hurt iOS 6?

Despite the media hoopla surrounding the faulty Maps app, Apple AAPL has still been successful at convincing 60 percent of its iPhone users to upgrade to iOS 6. According to Chitika, an online ad network and data analytics firm, 45 percent of iPad users have also upgraded. An additional 39 percent of iPod users have done the same. "The higher degree of fragmentation seen with iPod Touch devices can be largely be attributed to first and second generation iPod Touches not being able to update past iOS 4," Chitika wrote in its report. "While the same is true of older iPhones, cellular companies offer discounted upgrades as part of contracts, encouraging turnover within this market." Chitika believes that Apple has done an "outstanding" job of keeping its users up-to-date with the latest operating system. In fact, Apple has topped Google GOOG by a significant margin. Chitika research found that only 22 percent of Android users are using the two most recent versions of the software. "Apple's performance in this area is a great selling point for mobile advertisers, as well as website and application developers, who can all confidently optimize their mobile properties to take advantage of the latest iOS capabilities without fear of shutting out a large portion of the user base," Chitika concluded. Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ