Apple's Greg Joswiak blames iOS 8.0.1 issues on software distribution

At Re/code's Code/Mobile conference, Greg Joswiak said the botched iOS 8.0.1 release had nothing to do with the update's contents, but instead how it was "wrapped" before being pushed out to users. He rebuffed suggestions that Apple has quality control issues.

"It had to do with the way the software was being sent over servers. It was the way software was being distributed," Joswiak said. "Whenever you're pushing software and doing some very advanced things, you're going to have some mistakes. What we try to do is very quickly fix them."

As for Apple's response, Joswiak noted the company reacted within one hour of discovering the bug, which entailed pulling the update meant to solve problems with HealthKit, Photos, Reachability and more.

Shortly after iOS 8.0.1 was pushed out in late September, reports from iPhone 6 and 6 Plus owners claimed the update disabled cellular connectivity and the Touch ID home button, rendering their new devices useless. Apple subsequently launched an update for the update the next day, which according to Joswiak's comments today was simply repackaged version of iOS 8.0.1.

Joswiak remained cagey throughout the interview, revealing little in the way of new information or statistics. He did mention that the multi-carrier Apple SIM introduced with the latest iPad models is not likely to see use in near future iPhones, an unsurprising move considering the handset's importance to Apple's bottom line.

Finally, the Apple exec offered some commentary on the ongoing Apple Pay situation, which has seen major retailers that are part of the Merchant Customer Exchange consortium pull support in lieu of launching their own branded service called CurrentC.

"We think the retailers who are going to be successful are going to work around their customers and accept the payment customers want to use," Joswiak said.