There are a few articles floating around the blogosphere the past few days that claim only 50% of iPhone users have ever sync'd their devices with iTunes. This seems insanely low to me. That said, I was talking to some folks at a party this weekend and they claimed they haven't connected their iPhone to their computer in almost a year (and these are relatively tech savvy people.)
From AppleInsider: According to a blogger report by OneFPS, about half of the Apple Store customers who need to have their device replaced "have never plugged them into iTunes after the initial activation and sync," a fact that makes "Apple Store Geniuses are excited about iCloud.
I only synced my iPod touch to my computer for updates to the OS. Other then that it wasn't worth the time to deal with iTunes for Windows. iCloud is big just letting people ditch the PC which catches Apple up to Android.
I sync my iPod touch every few days (if not every day), for various reasons:
* To charge it
* To backup any apps I've downloaded
* To change the songs I have stored on my iPod (I have way more music than fits on the device, and I often find myself looking for a song I didn't put on the iPod)
* To scrobble my music to Last.fm
The first and last items on that list are highest priority for me personally.
When I got my iphone I retired my touch to being mounted in my car,.. so it's charged from the stereo and I scrobble my music via a jailbroken app, hasn't been restored/messed with beyond new music every couple months really.
Since I got my iPad in April, I synced it 3 times. I only do it to put video on the device, which is rarely ever. I might be more inclined to sync if it would actually charge over USB from my computer (my USB port isn't powerful enough).
I barely ever plug in my iPhone but I plug in my iPod Touch whenever it is low on power. Since I can download and update apps right on the device, I only need to sync for music and to occasionally do a backup.
Although I do believe many people use their computer as the primary charging station for their iDevices...
Back when I had an iPhone, I used to plug it into my computer daily. I had a small dock sitting on my desk by my monitor and would just plug it in to charge whenever I sat down. iTunes would sync automatically.
I would have assumed that it would be the same for most people with desk jobs; I never would have thought that so many people never sync their devices after the activation.
Your average consumer (read: people that most likely don't read gdgt) aren't sitting behind a computer most of their day, and when they are it's likely spent browsing Facebook, TMZ or People.com. Backing up their iPhone to iTunes is the least of their concern — some don't even know it's possible to backup/sync to iTunes (like my sister and mother).
Looks like I'm in the minority here. I barely ever plug my iPhone 3GS or iPad to sync. This is mainly because I despise iTunes and as of this moment, don't have it installed on any of my OS's. The last time I plugged one of my iOS devices in was a few months ago to activate my iPad in Windows XP mode. Since then, I've gotten a new SSD and didn't bother to install XP mode. The last time I plugged my 3GS in was to install the latest firmware version compatible with an unlock, which is version 4.0.1, which was back in July 2010.
I sync when I get behind on my podcasts and it is more convenient to sync 12 episodes over than to manually do "Get more Episodes" 12 times...other than that, before iCloud Purchase Restore, I would sync when I bought an app on the computer. A big decline in my syncing frequency also corresponds to the acquisition of my iPad 2, since the MBP spends a lot of time off or asleep now.
I sync my iOS devices once every couple months, at best. I'm plenty tech saavy, but i dont use my Mac every day and that makes syncing a PITA. OTOH, my Windows Phone is synced daily, because it does it wirelessly while it's charging at night. Syncing should be at least wireless and automatic, if not completely cloud-based. Wired sync is so 1998..
Every time I am at the computer, so daily. I like to because it charges it, backs up my data and scrobbles to Last.fm.
My parents sync everytime there is an iOS update and they only do it because I tell them to. If I never did they would never sync, a lot of people I know don't sync their devices so this article isn't suprising.
I sync every couple of days but that is mostly to update my podcasts. I am an active podcast listener through my FM transmitter in my car. Also I have a smart playlist that has the most recent songs I've added to iTunes, so those come along at the same time.
Usually every night when I get home from work. Mostly I do it to get app updates and sync any pictures I might have taken during the day. But I also tend to change my iTunes playlists around a lot.
Usually about once a month. Some months I do it as often as once a week to load new podcasts or add songs I have downloaded. If it wasn't for Pandora I would likely do it more to add new music more often. I rarely watch movies on my iPhone.
Not only do I sync my iPhone weekly, I also sync my wife's iPhone and iPad every day. If I didn't, I know they would never get sync'd, not even for OS upgrades.
I sync almost every day because I listen to several daily podcasts.
My nephew has my old 3GS and his mom an iPhone 4. Every month or so I take their phones
away from them and sync them. Having to download 90 app updates is not
unusual when I do that.
I sync when iOS updates come out and just occasionally for changing music. So maybe 1 time a month tops. Thinking of ditching iTunes and using rdio anyhow.
I sync my iPhone nearly every day. My primary reason for syncing is to charge my phone. It happens frequently enough that I never seem to have to think about the need to back anything up.
I don't even have to think twice in most cases about my data being backed up. I'm pretty serious about it. If I lost my phone somehow I would be more worried about what whoever had my phone could do with my data than I would be about me not having my data.
Wow, sort of surprised,.. my phone gets synced 2-3 times... per year? With pandora/grooveshark/my own music library privately streamed, there's no reason to sync to me... I dl all apps/podcasts from the device and my contacts sync through mobile me.
when i had my ipod 120 i would charge it a lot, sync it often too as i got new music more often when i was younger. I imagine not syncing an ipad that often, just charging since it is so much different, dunno if i would do as much music on it
When I used my iPod Touch as a PDA I would sync every day. Now that I have an android phone, the iPod spends most of its days on a radio dock, streaming Pandora and looking a bit lonely :(