MacRumors

Apple's iOS 7 adoption rates may have been slower than previously thought, according to a new report from mobile advertising firm Millennial Media, which suggests that iOS 6 adoption happened more rapidly than iOS 7 adoption.

According to the report, iOS 7 impressions on Millennial Media's advertising platform climbed an average of 185 percent each day during the seven days following the September 18 launch of iOS 7. One week after launch, 16 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 7.

Comparatively, Millennial Media saw an average of 264 percent growth per day following the seven day release period after iOS 6 was launched on September 19, 2012. A week after launch, 35 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 6, suggesting users adopted iOS 6 more rapidly than they adopted iOS 7.

Millennial Media hypothesizes that some consumers may have been hesitant to download iOS 7, given the major interface changes associated with the update.

What’s behind these patterns? We can’t say for certain, but we have a couple hunches. When comparing iOS 7 to iOS 6, we think that it is very telling that impressions were the same on Day 1, and iOS 7 slowed down significantly after that. Because iOS 7 was such a major update, it seems likely that early adopters downloaded it as soon as possible, but for other consumers, there may have been hesitation after reading about how radical the changes were. The internet was abuzz with iOS 7 reviews, and people may have decided to wait some time before adopting the new OS.

Millennial Media’s data seems to directly contradict earlier reports on iOS 7 adoption, which indicated users were downloading and installing iOS 7 much more rapidly than iOS 6. Back in September, just a day after iOS 7 was released, mobile analytics firm Mixpanel reported that 36 percent of active iOS devices were already running iOS 7, while ad network Chitika estimated iOS 7 adoption at 18 percent, putting both estimates far ahead of Millennial Media’s own estimates.

As of today, Mixpanel's data suggests that iOS 7 is now installed on approximately 72.5 percent of devices, with adoption continuing to climb steadily. In the past, Apple has emphasized the rapid adoption of its newest operating system upgrades as a major strength of the iOS platform comparative to competing platforms such as Android, which is plagued by fragmentation.

Apple is making considerable progress on its project started yesterday to cover the glass facade of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco with decals bearing a colorful design and a white Apple logo, with new photos from David Jones showing the project wrapping around two sides of the building now nearly complete.

Apple's event kicks off next Tuesday, October 22 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time and the company is expected to introduce a number of new products including both hardware and software. New iPads are expected to be a major focus of the event, but OS X Mavericks, Mac Pro, and other products will also be addressed.

With just four days to go until Apple's October 22 media event in San Francisco, expectations for what will be shown are in many cases continuing to firm up, while in other cases questions remain. Our regularly updated Roundups section continues to offer a good overview of what is expected for each product and highlights the significant number of Apple products due for updates. Among the expectations for next week:

- iPad: Expect a new iPad mini-inspired design that is thinner, narrower, and lighter. [Read More]

- iPad mini: Retina display expected, but there have been questions about production and whether Apple be able to ship the new device in significant quantities, if at all, before the holidays. [Read More]

- OS X Mavericks: Reportedly due for launch before the end of the month, we should see a final unveiling next week. Other software updates including new versions of Apple's iWork and iLife suites, including iWork for iCloud, are also expected. [Read More]

- Mac Pro: Announced by Apple as launching "this fall" following a sneak peek at WWDC in June, Apple's radically redesigned professional desktop should get a thorough introduction next Tuesday. Some have speculated that updated displays may arrive to complement the new Mac Pro, but there has been no specific evidence of a display refresh. [Read More]

- MacBook Pro: An update for Apple's Retina MacBook Pro line has been expected for several months, moving to Intel's new Haswell processors for improved battery life. While it seems that Apple would want to feature the MacBook Pro improvements at its event, the list of products to be covered is beginning to get rather long and so it is unclear if the updated notebooks will make an appearance at or alongside the event or at a separate time. [Read More]

- Mac mini: There have been no specific rumors about the Mac mini, but it too is due for an update to Haswell processors. [Read More]

- An Apple TV wildcard: There have been some rumblings over the past several months that Apple is planning some sort of TV-related announcement for late this year, but there has been no concrete evidence of any imminent introduction. While Apple has been said to be planning its own connected television set product, that product may not be ready and the effort could continue to progress incrementally with an updated set-top box.

Yesterday, researchers made a presentation at the Hack in the Box conference arguing that Apple's iMessage system could theoretically allow Apple or another party to intercept the encrypted messages. The concern stems in part from Apple's use of a private server for storing users' public keys used to encrypt messages, meaning that senders have no way of knowing whether a potentially false key has been inserted in order to intercept messages intended for a different recipient.

In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple once again denies that it can read iMessages, noting that it would require the service's systems to be re-engineered and that the company has no interest in doing so.

Apple says that QuarksLab’s theory is just that — a theory, and one that would require a rearchitecting of iMessage for it ever to be a threat in the real world.

“iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement to AllThingsD. “The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so.”

Apple's statement does not actually refute the original claim, simply confirming that as the service is currently configured it is impossible for Apple to intercept iMessages. The researchers' argument rests on the observation that changes could be made to Apple's systems to allow for iMessages to be intercepted without users being aware of the changes.

The result is that Apple is arguing users should trust that the company has no interest in making such changes, and if users take Apple at its word, the researchers' concerns remain merely theoretical. But some users may remained concerned that Apple could be quietly compelled to make changes by government security agencies, compromising Apple's touted "secure end-to-end encryption" for iMessage.

The Cupertino City Council today posted a video of the press conference it held yesterday, announcing its approval of Apple's Campus 2 plans. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer spoke during the conference, thanking the community for green lighting its plans and providing some additional details on the campus.

This is a very special moment for us at Apple. We have put a tremendous amount of love and energy into this campus, and we can’t wait to get started building it. Cupertino is Apple’s home. We love Cupertino, we’re very proud to be here, and we were thrilled that Apple Campus 2 will be a part of Cupertino.

We’re going to build the best office building ever built in the world and we’re going to put it in a hundred acre park, returning the site to its natural beauty. It will be a place for the best team in the industry to innovate for decades to come.

We’re very grateful to the city council, to the city staff, and most importantly, our neighbors and the citizens of Cupertino and the surrounding communities who supported us last night and along the way to get to this point.

Oppenheimer went on to say that Apple’s new campus will be the most environmentally friendly building of its size, using water and landscaping efficiently and garnering 70 percent of its energy from solar and fuel cells with the rest coming from green energy sources within California.

During a question and answer period when he was asked about the use of the campus should Apple vacate, Oppenheimer noted that Apple is excited about the future products it has in the pipeline, which are going to surprise and delight customers, keeping Apple at its Campus 2 location for decades to come.

The Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple’s "spaceship campus" on Tuesday. Provided no petitions for reconsideration are filed within the next 10 days, Apple will be able to break ground with ancillary permits later this month. A second public reading, which will result in a full set of permits, is scheduled for November 19.

Apple’s first building phase will include the construction of the 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped structure along with multiple parking facilities, a fitness center, and an auditorium. During a second phase, Apple will construct offices with an additional 600,000 square feet of space and will also continue to occupy its current buildings in Cupertino and surrounding areas.

Apple has begun installing decorations at the Yerba Buena Center ahead of Tuesday's media event, where Apple is widely expected to introduce new iPad and iPad mini models.

MacRumors reader David Jones sent in this image of colorful decorations going up on the side of the San Francisco building. The graphics match the invitations sent out to media members earlier this week.

The October 22 date was first reported by AllThingsD earlier this month, and was quickly confirmed by the The Loop's ever-reliable Jim Dalrymple.

The original AllThingsD report claimed that event will focus on the iPad updates, but that OS X Mavericks and the redesigned Mac Pro will also be featured at the event. Apple is due to release a number of other product updates, perhaps most notably new MacBook Pros, but it is apparently still unclear whether those updates will be a part of next week's event.

Update: Jones has now caught a photo of the plans showing the overall design for the graphics.

Following the revelation of government data gathering program PRISM in June, Apple released a statement on customer privacy that suggested the company was unable to access or decrypt iMessage and FaceTime conversations.

According to researchers who presented at the Hack the Box conference in Kuala Lumpur (via Macworld), it is actually possible for someone inside Apple to intercept messages because the company has access to public iMessage keys.

The company's claim that iMessage is protected by unbreakable encryption is "just basically lies," said Cyril Cattiaux, who has developed iOS jailbreak software and works for Quarkslab, a penetration testing and reverse engineering company in Paris.

The researchers emphasized they have no indication that Apple or the government is reading iMessages, only that it would be possible to do so.

To encrypt iMessages, Apple utilizes public key cryptography, which means that every Apple device is assigned both a private key and a public key. When an iMessage is sent, it requests the public key of the recipient's device to encrypt the message, which is then decrypted by a private key upon receipt.

Because Apple manages public keys and does not divulge them to users, it is not possible to verify that a sent iMessage is going to the intended recipient. Apple could, for example, substitute or add a public key to intercept an outgoing message without the sender being aware of the change, as end users do not have access to public keys.

With a public server, such as MIT’s PGP Public Key Server, the sender can at least see more information, such as whether a key has changed. At that point, the sender can decide whether they want to trust it or not if they suspect a man in the middle attack. Apple’s key server is not public, the researchers say.

"The biggest problem here is you just cannot control that the public key you are using when you are ciphering the message is really the key of your recipient and not, for example, the public key of some guy in Apple," Cattiaux said.

According to the researchers, there would be no way for an end user to detect an intercepted or rerouted message from their iOS device, as it is impossible to see whether or not a key has been switched or where a message has been routed. The solution to the issue, to introduce true end-to-end encryption, would require Apple to store public keys on each iOS device to allow users to compare keys to verify that messages are going to the intended recipient.

Earlier this year, a Drug Enforcement Agency document noted that it was impossible for law enforcement agencies to eavesdrop directly on iMessage conversations due to Apple's encryption, but it appears that Apple itself could potentially intercept those messages using public keys.

Update: Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement to AllThingsD that "iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages," adding that "The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so."

Apple has started a new print advertising campaign for the iPhone 5s. The first spot, running on the back of this week's issue of The New Yorker, showcases the Touch ID-equipped home button of the new gold iPhone 5s.

Your finger is the password.

Touch ID was created not only to protect all the important and personal information on your phone, but to be so easy to use, you'll actually use it. Its state-of-the-art technology learns your unique fingerprint, so you can unlock your phone or even authorize purchases with just a simple touch.

Touch ID. Only on iPhone 5s.

The spot in our image includes T-Mobile branding, but Apple's iPhone TV ads have traditionally rotated branding between all the carriers that carry the iPhone, likely as part of a co-marketing agreement.

Apple has been heavily advertising the iPhone 5c on television in recent weeks, but we have seen relatively little about the 5s, likely because of tight supplies. The print ads mention 'limited availability' of the iPhone 5s in fine print.

Update: Entertainment Weekly and Sports Illustrated are running the same ad but with Sprint co-branding, while Rolling Stone is running it with Verizon co-branding and TIME is running it with AT&T co-branding.