Beside yesterday’s rumor here is another rumor about iOS 5. Once again it’s from TechCrunch. They have reported that iOS 5 will be released in fall 2011, not summer. The extra time will be needed to polish a significant slate of new features that will make iOS 5 a must-have mobile operating system. Coming with iOS 5, say the sources, will be cloud-based features for online storage of music, photos and video.
Here’s what we’re hearing right now:
* iOS 5 will launch in the fall and will be a major revamp of the OS.
* It could well be previewed at WWDC, it just won’t be released then.
* The iOS 5 launch is also likely to coincide with the release of a new type of iPad, which we previously reported on.
* The new iOS will be heavily built around the cloud, and we could see several new services launch from Apple that take advantage of this.
* Yes, one of those is very likely a “music locker” service. There is also a fall launch aim for this, during Apple’s annual music-themed event.
* But much of the cloud stuff will first be talked about at WWDC, Apple’s developer event which will take place in June.
* One of the new cloud service elements is likely a location service that focuses on finding friends and family members.
* As we said yesterday, OS X Lion is still on pace for a summer release — some of the new cloud components are likely to be baked into it as well.
Tech Crunch report also raises the prospect of iOS 5 possibly arriving in conjunction with the iPad 3, although no concrete evidence that we’ve seen suggests that Apple would actually roll out another new tablet this year. With Apple’s promotional machine continuing to push the iPad 2 as the tablet everyone will be talking about throughout 2011, it seems a logical bet that the iPad 3 will be reserved for next year, when it can effectively be pushed as 2012’s most talked about tablet.
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