Actually heard about this on NPR last week! Not my normal "Apple news" source.
Here is a blog that provides some details about the program that is currently limited to iOS and iCloud.
Apple not offering enough? How about $500,000?
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OK... I'll look into the Dropbox idea then... notworthy.gif
Dropbox is used by some apps (like 1Password) to back up their own data. It is can not be used, as far as I know, to backup any iDevice nor the iOS
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The backups of the device on my computer won't allow you to back up to a previous version of iOS.
iOS 8 did have a bad bug in it, but Apple created a way to downgrade back to 7.x. 8.0.2 fixed the bug.
Well, you can't wait too long. Apple 'disallows' a previous iOS from being installed after a certain period of time (times may vary, but it seems to be ~2 weeks). Some have stated that the key is finding a "iOS x.y.z IPSW restore file" file on your hard drive.
Time Machine does not back up anything from any iDevice, that I know of. Of course, if you'd like to JailBreak your phone, you might be able to access its files system and even make TM think its just another hard drive...