Apple's sixth beta of iOS 8 is for carrier testing only - report
While developers were not supplied a new beta of iOS 8 this week alongside the latest pre-release version of OS X Yosemite, Apple's carrier partners were in fact provided iOS 8 beta 6 for testing prior to the release of the golden master.
Details on the carrier-only iOS 8 beta 6 were revealed on Tuesday by BGR, which alleged that developers were not provided the software because Apple is "so close" to releasing a golden master. In development lingo, a "GM" build of software is considered a candidate for final public release, and Apple golden masters are frequently identical to the shipping software.
Apple's iOS 8 beta 6 reportedly must be accepted by all testing partners by Sept. 5. That would be just a few days before the company's anticipated Sept. 9 media event, where it is expected to unveil the next-generation "iPhone 6."
To date, developers have been provided with five betas of iOS 8 stretching back to the unveiling of the platform at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. New iOS 8 builds were released alongside Developer Preview versions of OS X Yosemite, but on Monday Yosemite beta 6 was released without an accompanying iOS 8 beta for developers.
Monday's report indicated that the carrier-only sixth beta of iOS 8 has already been rejected because of an issue that causes YouTube to not function properly in Apple's Safari browser. An accompanying changelog indicates that iOS 8 beta 6 fixes issues related to a range of functions, including problems where iCloud sync and Maps would use excessive data.
The sixth beta also reportedly fixes issues with the new Continuity functionality between iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, addressing a problem where mail might not sync between platforms, as well as a bug where connectivity could fail after opening Control Center.
If Apple follows its typical release schedule, the golden master of iOS 8 will be provided to developers on Sept. 9 when the new iPhones are announced. In years past the company has made its next-generation mobile operating system available to the public two days before the new iPhones go on sale, which this year could prove to be Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Details on the carrier-only iOS 8 beta 6 were revealed on Tuesday by BGR, which alleged that developers were not provided the software because Apple is "so close" to releasing a golden master. In development lingo, a "GM" build of software is considered a candidate for final public release, and Apple golden masters are frequently identical to the shipping software.
Apple's iOS 8 beta 6 reportedly must be accepted by all testing partners by Sept. 5. That would be just a few days before the company's anticipated Sept. 9 media event, where it is expected to unveil the next-generation "iPhone 6."
To date, developers have been provided with five betas of iOS 8 stretching back to the unveiling of the platform at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. New iOS 8 builds were released alongside Developer Preview versions of OS X Yosemite, but on Monday Yosemite beta 6 was released without an accompanying iOS 8 beta for developers.
Monday's report indicated that the carrier-only sixth beta of iOS 8 has already been rejected because of an issue that causes YouTube to not function properly in Apple's Safari browser. An accompanying changelog indicates that iOS 8 beta 6 fixes issues related to a range of functions, including problems where iCloud sync and Maps would use excessive data.
The sixth beta also reportedly fixes issues with the new Continuity functionality between iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, addressing a problem where mail might not sync between platforms, as well as a bug where connectivity could fail after opening Control Center.
If Apple follows its typical release schedule, the golden master of iOS 8 will be provided to developers on Sept. 9 when the new iPhones are announced. In years past the company has made its next-generation mobile operating system available to the public two days before the new iPhones go on sale, which this year could prove to be Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Comments
I agree!
But maybe it's because they're using a new cell modem chip:
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/08/19/iphone-6-qualcomm-mdm9625-lte-advanced/
Of course, they do get it done, but how do they do it? Do they have to unbox every phone, plug it in, then load up the latest version of the OS? Crazy.
For a GM? Yeah. Then again, only a month until launch. I could only see a beta 7 before GM pushed out.
However the 9th is not the launch date, it's about 2 weeks later and in general the GM is that date.
How do they install the GM on iPhones that ship soon after the OS/phone is officially released? If, let's say, they're selling 500,000 at launch, say September 16, and the GM isn't finalized until September 5, how do they get the OS on all those phones!?
Of course, they do get it done, but how do they do it? Do they have to unbox every phone, plug it in, then load up the latest version of the OS? Crazy.
This is a good point. For this reason alone I would think iOS 8 would be very close to GM status. They must have some kind of section of the factory that images the phone with the correct image based on the type of phone it is (carrier its for, etc).
This doesn't mean they won't do 2 or 3 more beta releases and just keep it internally before going GM status.
Seems too early. Way too early.
Agreed. If nothing else Swift support is still in flux from week to week. I would expect that at iOS 8 launch apps written in (or with components written in Swift) will be available for sale. But every two weeks we have to update our Swift code based on changes to the language. And there are core APIs that are still on the list to be modified in the coming weeks. They are going to be cutting this very close.
let url: NSURL = NSURL(string: "http://localhost/aapl")
let aaplPrice: Double = (NSString.stringWithContentsOfURL(url,
encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding, error:nil)).doubleValue
var label: String = "AAPL Stock price is " + String(format: "%0.2f", aaplPrice)
if aaplPrice >= 100 {label += " Laissez les bons temps rouler ????"} else {label += " ????"}
println(label)
[/CODE]
[SIZE=5]AAPL Stock price is 100.34 Laissez les bons temps rouler ????
[/SIZE]
Did it hit earlier? Seems like they’d short it right now.
AAPL Stock price is >= $100 Laissez les bons temps rouler ????
And market capitalisation is over $600,000,000,000. $1,000,000,000,000 by May 2015.
Did it hit earlier? Seems like they’d short it right now.
I'm not sure how much effect Gatorguy will have shorting Apple on his own.
At $100.39 as I type this. Let the good times roll, indeed.
Bring on iOS 8 and the iPhone 6!!
At $100.39 as I type this. Let the good times roll, indeed.
Bring on iOS 8 and the iPhone 6!!
Now $100.29. Apple is going down. Doomed.
$100.46!
At $100.39 as I type this. Let the good times roll, indeed.
Bring on iOS 8 and the iPhone 6!!
$100.46!
$100.47 now! Not far now to $150. Come on Apple, you can do it!
'The little fruit that could'
At $100.39 as I type this. Let the good times roll, indeed.
Bring on iOS 8 and the iPhone 6!!
$100.46!
It's back down to $100.45. Must be a double top, which means it's about to crash.
I think the new chip is a driver to have a 'carrier' only 'forever hold your peace' beta...
Sept 5 sounds like there's another beta release prior to GM targeting developers and key QA people. Unless there are hills to die on in the Carrier only release, a RC beta release next week will likely be there for app level bug verification. Otherwise, the carrier beta will at worst impact release dates for some carriers (one can assume that the top 20 have already validated connectivity, and this is a confirmation beta release).
11 days to burn 500K phones... piece of cake. Because the problem is to burn a million phones a week.
A million a week is probably the production rate throughout peaks in the 4th quarter. So, let's just say they can burn 1 Million a week steady state (52Million a year for the top of line phone). So, let's say they need to do a Million burns.
From the 5th to the 16th is 2 million image impressions (11 days to do 2M) To do that, They need to burn 757 units every 6 minutes (1 every 4 seconds: 15 a minute). I picked 6 minutes for some sort of automated smoke testing after the SW load. YMMV.
Assuming special USB/Lightning SW/HW to do the download.... at 15MB/s (1/2 USB2.0 rated speeds) loading 1/2 GB of OS and Apps and data would take <45 seconds, leaving 5+ minutes for validation and smoke testing. Assuming they use it all, and assuming a worker can handle 4 phones a minute (connect, load, read validation script, unload into GOOD or BAD Pile, rinse and repeat every 15 seconds, with a couple breaks every shift.
you have 4 stations with 24 lightning nipples on it, I doubt they use a Macbook pro... This is a specialized loader unit.
4 stations, 96 phones being burned in pipeline/parallel, 16/min being pulled off and binned GOOD if the light is green, less than 1 per minute being tossed into the BAD bin.
Now the problem may be even more distributed depending on localization of the OS requires breaking down the lines (US, England, China, etc.)
Simple problem.
How do they install the GM on iPhones that ship soon after the OS/phone is officially released? If, let's say, they're selling 500,000 at launch, say September 16, and the GM isn't finalized until September 5, how do they get the OS on all those phones!?
Of course, they do get it done, but how do they do it? Do they have to unbox every phone, plug it in, then load up the latest version of the OS? Crazy.
they are not in boxes until they go through final QA which requires the final OS installs.
With specialized HW and loading sequences, I doubt what you see as a load speed is what they see in the factory.
The bigger deal (to me) is fulfillment of 1-2Million phones from 48 hours prior to ship to your doorstep and 50,000 retail locations world wide. I can only imagine a fleet of 747s looking like something out of the Battle of Britain war movie taking off wing-tip to wing-tip and flying in formation to London, Memphis, Sydney, etc.