Rumor: Apple may not release cloud-based iOS 5 until this fall

It's impossible to believe that 2011 will be the year of the 2 iPads. It is entirely possible to believe that all of our stuff will be migrating to the cloud beginning in 2011.

If iOS 5.0 will be heavily tied to their new data center and that or it’s SW services won’t be ready in time then it certainly makes sense to delay the release. I don’t think sales of the iPhone 5 would be hindered over its lifetime by a delay in iOS 5.0, and potentially even help to spread out the sales by those opting to wait for iOS 5.0 to arrive before committing.

I don't know about a cloud based mobile OS, data charges are still so high. Unless it was an optional form of cloud storage, and everything that's normally on iOS is still there locally.

It was rumored the iPad 2 would be delayed until June. Ended up coming out a few weeks earlier than Apple's normal 1 year cycle. If April comes and goes without iOS 5 preview, then I guess the rumors are true.

I disagree. I do see why anyone would think all your data will migrate to a remote site. I do think that there will be better services for accessing data via the cloud, but local storage for media will NOT be going away. I see something akin to how Dropbox and Time Machine works, delta encoding and sparse bundles that only updates changes into a log file once the content is on the server in some form. This would mean that you dont actually upload your music to the cloud or, worse, everyone with the same song having a separate upload for it on the server. It would be a single file that all users are tied to because the content is exactly the same. This is how Dropbox works and its brilliant!

Apple worry me with their tendency to delete data during data migration and sync.

Do I want them to try doing that with more of my data?

Lotsa other goodies in the pipeline till fall.

Of course it would be optional.

TechCrunch's track record with rumor mongering is very mixed.

the "standard model" would have Apple release iOS 5 with iPhone 5 in June, and then the iPad version of iOS 5 in the Fall. the rumor may be picking up on only the second part of that sched.

Apple TV 2 was also released last Fall, so it could get its iOS 5 update at the same time as the iPad. we might also see Apple TV 3 then, with the new A5 chips. that would make sense especially if there are further expansions of AirPlay in iOS 5.

Apple has updated the iPod line in the Fall for years, ahead of the Holiday sales season, and there is no reason for that to change. that could include bringing iOS 5 to the iPod touch.

and if Apple were ever going to release an iPhone Nano, the Fall would also make sense. because it would likely be some version of an iPod combined with a very simplified iOS phone, and the Holiday sales season would be best for it. we keep hearing rumors about that too ...

so plenty of "routine" stuff could happen to make this Fall a big deal for Apple and iOS 5.

but shifting to a Fall sched for the leading iOS annual updates would make no sense. a big selling point of new model iPhones each Spring is their simultaneous fresh iOS update. why would Apple screw that up?

the standard model would also have Apple fully unveil OS X Lion at WWDC for release in Summer. that is the obvious best big hype moment for it, to focus on it in full detail. why would Apple screw that up too?

so that leaves only the launch of the new MobileMe/iTunes cloud thing. we know for a fact Apple stopped signing up old MobileMe subscribers in February in anticipation of it. why would Apple wait 4 months then to launch the new one? we also know on May 5 the old version of iCal in MobileMe will simply stop working completely! so it is pretty obvious something technical is going to happen by then that makes it technically un-workable. it is not hard to add 2 and 2 together here and come up with an April launch of the new Apple cloud, as rumored elsewhere.

Apple rumor reports are like trying to envision the proverbial elephant inside a totally dark room. they feel just one part of the animal and then speculate on the nature of the whole beast. usually badly.

You make a lot of good points. The only thing Id question is your questions as to why Apple would screw that up. While I dont think this rumour rings true (at least not yet), its possible that they have no intention of purposely screwing things up, but circumstances beyond their control have pushed the release of iOS 5.0 back a couple months. Id say its better to get a later release than a half-baked release just to meet a self imposed time table.

The acceleration of disinformation about iOS 5 probably means we're going to see it soon. Same thing happened before the iPad 2 was unveiled.

That is the most believable iOS 5.0 rumour Ive read.

I am very dissatisfied when all the tech blogs use one site as a source, as it's very shoddy reporting. You never see the NYT use USA Today as a source.

At the very least, please point out something like "our sources have not stated anything like this to us" in the article, so we know very clearly that TechCrunch is the source of this info.

You get things like "possible iPad 2.5/3 in Fall?!?!" when a person like John Gruber posts rubbish on his site but other people pick it up like wildfire.

They're going to have bring 4G data support for cloud features. I wonder how they would get e.g 60GB of music onto the online account. I could understand being able to sync iTunes purchases on the go but not media you imported from CDs etc.

1) I dont understand why people want to compare national daily newspaper reporting with tech rumour reporting.

2) Grubers track record is good, but dont confuse his opinion with a sites rumour hes linked to with a rumour from a source hes obtained directly.

This rumor could be true if:
1) Most of the iOS programmers have been shifted over to polishing/finishing Lion.
2) Apple's plan is to get Lion done and shipped, then shift most of their people over to iOS 5.
3) iOS 5 ties into Lion in some manner that Apple wants to make the "truck" work, first (borrowing Steve Job's new term for pcs), then build out the client iOS interface. This also makes sense with Apple's decision to sell Lion server as part of Lion (not as a distinct version).

I think the rumor is doubtful, but it's not impossible if Lion is the server for iOS devices, and the vision is to have one-two workstation/servers running Lion in the house, an iPad/iPhone for everyone in the house, and a subscription to mobileme to keep everyone sync-ed. If that's the goal, then you finish the server software first (summer), then build out the client interface (fall). And even that would be pretty ambitious.

They already have a record
They could simply ask you if you want x song(s) in cloud
I don't know if I would need ALL my purchases available
Just last 6 months
They could just copy them over
The delay is more about the music co rather than apple

Who do these idiots and rumor mongerers think that Apple is?

If Apple were like the other companies and copycats, they'd be releasing a brand new iPad every couple of months. Apple is not like them and Apple sticks to a yearly release. Apple can't even make enough iPad2's to fill the current demand, which is beyond anybody's wildest expectations. A company like Apple, which puts a lot of effort into designing and researching new products is going to want to have the longest product life span as they can, which is yearly.

Only Fandroids thinks that Apple needs to come out with a new iPad3 in the fall. It's a ridiculous idea and contrary to what Apple stands for. These rumor mongerers act as if Apple is desperate and that they need to do something to react to all of the garbage products coming out from the competitors. Apple couldn't care less about what those monkeys are doing. Who should we believe, Steve Jobs saying that 2011 is the year of the iPad2, or some loser rumor mongerers who have ulterior motives and not a clue.

As for iOS5, it's supposedly a whole new redesign and overhaul, so who knows when that's coming out. It's better to wait and get it right instead of pushing out buggy junk prematurely which other companies do.

This holiday season, the hottest product will be the iPad2 running iOS5.

Every summer, WWDC helps developers understand new iOS and Mac OS technologies. So it makes sense to release major OS updates after WWDC. Months after, to give developers plenty of time to code the new technologies into their apps. Apple learned many years ago that a major new OS release needs apps to showcase it.

Apple also learned not to roll out significant server-side technology until it has been fully tested and proven. The iPhone OS 2.0 release along with iPhone 3G in 2008 was a disaster. Push notifications really didn't work, and heads rolled. So although the North Carolina data center may be physically finished, Apple is going to make sure that its services are fully tested before going live.

Rolling out an iOS update toward the end of the year makes sense from a marketing perspective too. iOS 5 will add new features to iPhone and iPad without a hardware update. Apple gets two boomlets of publicity for iPhone and iPad. One boomlet when the hardware is released, and a second boomlet when iOS 5 is released.

Announce iPad in Q1, iPhone in Q2 with the existing iOS. Introduce new iOS in the latter half of the year to add new life to the existing iDevices. Apple can then hype the updated iPhone and iPad (and iPod touch) for two or three months leading up to the holiday buying season. Perfect.

good point that there may be strong linkages between iOS 5 and OS X Lion to account for this year.

but Apple could handle that in two ways without delaying iOS 5 this year - intro a "Lion ready" iOS 5 in June as usual. or release the "Lion update" for it as iOS 5.1 in the Fall.

presumably iOS 5.0 will already be "Apple cloud ready" in June, for any OS linkages that might enhance the new Apple cloud services. like the much-desired easy universal file sharing for iOS. this is why an event in April launching the new Apple cloud and unveiling iOS 5 at the same time makes a lot of sense.

Doesn't seem that long ago that iOS 4 came out, don't know why people would be expecting 5 so quickly. As software gets more complicated the updates take longer.

Thats certainly happened with Mac OS, but there has been a distinct annual release for iDevices that has wavered very little. That kind of precedence is strong.

The one thing that makes this delay sound reasonable is the inclusions in 4.3 over 4.2.1, along with the exclusion for the iPhone 3G. If iOS 5.0 was right around the corner then why such a hefty upgrade? For instance, why not just wait on adding WebKit2 and Nitro to the Mobile Safari framework? Its not conclusive by any means but it does seem like this a mid cycle placeholder for a delayed iOS 5.0 release.

I'm with you, I just don't see an iPad 3 coming out this year. It seems nonsensical to me. I've always felt that way and I'm surprised people who follow Apple's actions would entertain the idea seriously.

(incidentally, I think we were all expecting the iPad2 to be a massive success, it wasn't beyond my wildest expectations :P)

I think Apple will want to get their product line, which I think is more or less complete for the time-being, into a set update cycle. iPad Q1, MbP/iPhone Q2, iMac Q3 when possible, iPod Q4. That would be stable and effective.

I do think that Apple will want to release iOS5 with the iPhone 5. The previous 4 OSs have been released alongside the commensurate phone release. I think they'll want to continue that if they can. It may be, though, that iOS5 is a redesign and requires more work that previous updates.

I guess we'll see as the year unravels.

Personally, I hate the idea of the cloud and want my information and data local. I want the cloud to be a tool I can dip into, but not where I live my IT life. As someone has mentioned, mobile data plans are just not ready to cope with too much from the cloud yet and the situation is even worse in markets like mine here in the UK where 4G will not even begin its rollout until 2014.

True, I think that almost everybody was expecting it to be a huge success, but I do think that even Apple was amazed by just how big that success would be. It has far surpassed the rate of sales that the original iPad 1 sold when it first came out, and that was a huge success too. It took the first iPad about one month to sell a million. Nobody knows the exact figures, but I think that they sold a million or so iPad2's on the first day!

The iPad2 has only been out for a few weeks now, but it's sold many millions already I am sure. When Apple releases the figures, it will blow everybody away.

But you do sometimes see NYT cite WSJ as a source. And when they do, they cite WSJ as having been the source. I take your point, though, which is that the better news services try and get their own sources. One problem with the rumors trade (I suspect) is that some leaks only happen once to one single outlet. And therefore it's hard to get your own source.

That's very funny.

But if we call the 'iPad 2 Pro' exactly that, we still have only one iPad this year, same processor, same RAM, same everything but the screen.

And the cameras, by the way, because they'll have to be improved to go with the screen. So then we'll see the logic of limiting the cameras on the standard iPad 2. Basically, they're for FaceTime and Photo Booth, but the new ones would turn the iPad Pro into a stunning portrait or landscape camera. More lines at the stores in the Fall, all over pure aesthetics.

The year of the iPad 2 really happens, it just costs a bit more. The competition is facing doom unless they also embrace this approach. Art triumphs, and the world changes in the way Steve Jobs has wanted it to change.

This is a significant amount of work and investment. Are the gains so worthwhile to bring forward the Q1 2012 iPad? I don't think so.

Also, I'm a photographer and I assure you, no iPad will be a stunning landscape or portrait camera for a good while yet, if ever. There's a reason I lug around my 77mm diameter L-series glass :P

IMO, this i what will happen in the Fall:

1) Apple wil release a new iPad -- called iPad 2X or iPad HD or somesuch
-- extends the line, does not replace the iPad 2
-- retina display
-- more robust hardware CPU, GPU, RAM
-- more robust wireless
-- New iOS

2) Apple will introduce a new ATV HD
-- extends the line does not replace the ATV 2
-- more robust hardware as above
-- New iOS

3) Home Server device to consilidate AirPort, TimeMachine, iTunes media/app server
-- augments capabilities of existing devices, does not necessarily replace them
-- coordinated backup and staging and with iTunes MobilMe/cloud service
-- robust hardware as above
-- new iOS

Using today's iDevices, the new iOs will add function and refine performance.

Using iPad HD with ATV HD, you will gain advantage of powerful touch/mobile interacting with ATV/HDTV

This will be the go to market combination for collaboration, education, entertainment, some enterprise, medical, gaming, etc.

I did not include iPhone, iPod Touch, Macs or Lion -- they will be upgraded as needed -- but schedules can be adjusted to accomodate the main event: the integrated post-pc solution.

To make this all work, Apple will need to announce the pieces in the next few months (by July) to allow developers enough time for Oct release.

Apple can do this in such a way that the new iPads, iP5s,, Touches will gain benefit from the new iOS and components.

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Exactly! In addition, we keep hearing about cloud backup. For what, exactly? For data, whatever that is? For media? For apps?

I've got about 40GB worth of stuff on my iPad now, and that's not mostly media. Even 4G, working the way it's supposed to, that is, at 100 Mbs, is WAY too slow to even contemplate. And the reliability of those speeds aren't very high. Real time over the air speeds are usually from 20 to 50% of rated speed.

And of course, we're not talking about REAL 4G, just the fake stuff Sprint and T-Mobile first began calling their slightly faster than usual 3G speed offerings, which first Verizon, and now AT&T were forced to call theirs as well.

So we're talking about speeds that will be closer to 10 to 15 Mbs. Useless for any serious backups or syncing.

I don't like the idea of losing sync between the phone intro's and the OS intro's. It's a terrible idea. Why? Because the new hardware has features that can only be accessed with the new software, which also include the apps Apple includes.

So while Apple could intro a 4.5 version in June with some of the major features, that would be a halfway measure that would just create more work for Apple. The reason is that now they would have to finish two major versions of the OS, 4.5 AND 5.0. What a mess! All at the same time they're getting 10.7 put the door.

It's easier to just finish 5.0, and leave any extras to be added later in the year when they're ready.

It's obvious Apple is on a yearly release schedule with iOS and simply cuts features if they're not ready in time. Maybe a major feature has been pushed back (like the cloud-based stuff) but I'd still expect Apple to ship iOS 5 with the iPhone 5. Even if it was a minor update and "deserved" to be named iOS 4.x, I still think they'd call it iOS 5 if it ships with the 5th generation iPhone.

We have a problem Houston.

Cloud-based not only implies but states the operating system is founded on the Cloud. It's not.

Adding Cloud Services is not Cloud-based.

If you can't grasp the difference no one can truly respect the reporting.

Stop with the iPad3 already, no matter what you want to call it! Apple has no reason to come out with one, and I haven't seen a single good reason why they should, but there are many reasons why they shouldn't. This is much more a whine from people wanting a higher Rez model as soon as possible, then it is a solid business reason for Apple to do so.

Apple is well behind in production for this model, and even though it's now being said that Apple won't have more than a minor problem from Japan's tragedy, there will be some. Apple will continue to have difficulty producing enough tablets the entire year. Last year, it took almost all year for them to catch up in production, and they will be selling many more this year. Unless you, and others who are so insistent upon having us believe that Apple will have a 3 version in September can come up with some very good reasons why Apple would NEED to do so, you can stop bothering us with this.

It would also be a very bad idea for Apple to come out with a "pro" version at a higher resolution, and thus do to the iPad market what Google and its OEMS have been doing to the Android market. I believe that Apple will avoid doing that at all costs. The only reason why Apple has a $99, now $49 3GS still out there with the old screen, is because they want some of the cheap market that Android is taking. They don't have that problem with the iPad.

No, they won't! Again, you give no believable reason why they would do this.

It is difficult to imagine how cloud computing in general is going to work. In its basic form it works like Dropbox or iDisk. In that case, you copy files to it like an external hard disk and can then access it from another computer. It doesn't care what kind of data you use. But when you throw an iPhone into the mix you are limited to only the files that iOS apps can open and without local storage you are limited to what you can do with the data.

This brings up a question of interoperability with other cloud services such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, etc. Theoretically, it should be possible to copy data sideways from one cloud to another without having to download and re upload. Of course with iOS that would be an unlikely scenario anyway without local storage. Ideally the cloud services should be platform agnostic. For example today if you were to go to an FTP server where you have RW access using Chrome regardless of OS, you can drag and drop files in the browser window. Safari doesn't offer that ability although it does work in IE with Windows.

The way I imagine cloud computing should work is similar to how UNIX text file editing works in a shell where it makes a BAK file automatically. But to improve on that model you open a cloud stored file and work with it and then save it back to the cloud or locally or both or to another cloud server. Add some collaboration tools, security, encryption, and time machine and it might eventually be useful.

The iPad 2 is selling sufficiently well and the competition seems sufficiently flummoxed, without iOS 5 for now.

I wonder what hardware or features in the iP5 will require an iOS release beyond 4.x?

I believe improved notifications, multitasking, widgets would be nice to have -- but not necessarily required.

Support for these may already be in iOS 4.

I believe it is too soon for a world phone or LTE.


However, if Apple were to release an iPad 2 HD and an ATV 2 HD (whatever) -- they could cement control of these markets for years to come.

Say, Quad, Quad CPU/GPU, 1-2 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, Retina..


They could begin mfg in say, July (by someone other than Sammy) for release in Oct.

These would have some price flexibility and they would not need to sell in the millions per month.

Rather, they need to set the bar for the next 2 years and cement Apple's leadership in the post-pc era.

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So much so that I suspect they are mixing two things together.

The cloud stuff is likely part of the rumored Mobile Me revamp. And THAT will probably come out in the Fall with the typical major vamp on itunes and the new ipods.

iOS 5 is very possibly independent and will come out in June with the iphones. Most of it will probably be fine tuning with a 5.1 update that turns on the cloud access in the fall.

You are right... I can offer no believable reason.

But, I've watched Apple and SJ for 33 years. Steve has a vision that has been sidetracked by others, or that he has never been in a position to implement.

My gut tells me Apple's post-pc offering will be Steve's ultimate glory, and sweet revenge to all who opposed him.


The key is the iPad -- the iPhone is only a necessary step along the way.

I believe within 2 years, the iPad line will be the dominant Apple device in sales, profit and customer acceptance.


My gut says the time is now -- and it's balls to the wall!

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