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Why no iOS 4 for iPad until the FALL?
- Thread starter zub3qin
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No solid answer has been given as far as I know, but my hope is its bigger than whats out tomorrow. What I mean by this is we will see some special iPad version of the apps that where left out of the initial release. I also bet we see it late summer and not fall.
Apple has learned it lessons(s) by doing too much at one time. The .mac/MobileMe debacle two years ago comes to mind. There is little reason to get a bunch of bad press on their current 'hot' new product.
I was going to post a link to the other thread similar to this but that's full of ppl cursing each other off so I won't lol. I'm not sure why but I'd assume they would want to release with the new iPod Touch hardware (around sept). Why? No idea but someone else in the other thread mentioned it so I passed the msg along.
Most likely reason is that iOS4 was already in development by a different team... The iPad was something that was done by a very small team in complete secrecy away from the rest of the iPhone and iOS groups. As a result, they used the iOS3.1 as the starting point for the iPad to make 3.2. (They had to, 4.0 wasn't even close to being finished...)
All those things they added into 3.2 need to be ported over to 4.0, as well as all the app changes (calendar, mail, etc.). It wasn't done before this because until the iPad was released into the wild with 3.2 finalized, those resources (those that worked on 3.2) weren't freed up to work on the porting to 4.0 effort. So it's going to take a little bit of time to get them moved over to 4.0. I'm betting we'll see something by Sept or Oct at the latest, and every version afterwards should be simultaneous.
Some people just don't get how much time and effort it takes to do this sort of thing, especially at the OS and app level. The hardware might be very similar (99% so) but there ARE differences (screen res for one) that need to be taken into account and dealt with. Think about it, EVERY app was changed at least somewhat on the iPad vs iPhone 3.1...
All those things they added into 3.2 need to be ported over to 4.0, as well as all the app changes (calendar, mail, etc.). It wasn't done before this because until the iPad was released into the wild with 3.2 finalized, those resources (those that worked on 3.2) weren't freed up to work on the porting to 4.0 effort. So it's going to take a little bit of time to get them moved over to 4.0. I'm betting we'll see something by Sept or Oct at the latest, and every version afterwards should be simultaneous.
Some people just don't get how much time and effort it takes to do this sort of thing, especially at the OS and app level. The hardware might be very similar (99% so) but there ARE differences (screen res for one) that need to be taken into account and dealt with. Think about it, EVERY app was changed at least somewhat on the iPad vs iPhone 3.1...
Your the first guy with a reasonably probable answer, I too saw the other thread and that never got any really good answers
Or it could be a business decision, not a technical limitation. Follow my logic:
iPad was released with iPhone OS 3.2, not a fully different operating system on it's own. It has some features that 4.0 has (ie user background photos, Bluetooth keyboard, iBooks ). So what you are left here is a serious fragmentation between the iOS versions that are available to the public.
Steve Jobs doesn't like fragmentation.
This is one of the reasons why iPhone OS was renamed to iOS. Currently there are two different versions of iOS out right now. One had features before the other one didn't and then that one was upgraded and now the other one doesn't have all or some of the features the other has.
What always happens in September? New iPods and and a new software update for the iPhone. It has been this way for the past 2 years. First with iPhone os 2.1 and then 3.1. So what's not to think that in September, the "Fall", that we will see iOS 4.1 for both the iPhone and iPad bringing a unified version number of iOS to all the devices that run it?
iPad was released with iPhone OS 3.2, not a fully different operating system on it's own. It has some features that 4.0 has (ie user background photos, Bluetooth keyboard, iBooks ). So what you are left here is a serious fragmentation between the iOS versions that are available to the public.
Steve Jobs doesn't like fragmentation.
This is one of the reasons why iPhone OS was renamed to iOS. Currently there are two different versions of iOS out right now. One had features before the other one didn't and then that one was upgraded and now the other one doesn't have all or some of the features the other has.
What always happens in September? New iPods and and a new software update for the iPhone. It has been this way for the past 2 years. First with iPhone os 2.1 and then 3.1. So what's not to think that in September, the "Fall", that we will see iOS 4.1 for both the iPhone and iPad bringing a unified version number of iOS to all the devices that run it?
Probably this.
Additionally, they have so much going on with the iPhone now, that it may be too much to roll out at the same time (let alone the fact that it probably would be tough to have ready by now). They can easily roll this update into their September event. Also, one of the complaints after the original iPad announcement was how little was done to make the iPad its own OS or scale it to its own size. Sure, they rebuilt the iPod, Photos, Mail, & Calendar apps, but they didn't really change a whole lot. Plus, there wasn't a lot of iPad-native apps at launch, but that keeps growing. Add in the fact of the multitasking and how they want to take care of that. There are also some annoying things about the OS, like how when you download an app, it kicks you to the homescreen to watch it download and you have to go back into the App Store if you want to get more apps. Also, there should be an automatic podcast retriever in the iPod app (maybe a pull to refresh for all podcasts feature). Anyway, there is a ton of stuff that they really need to tweak, and hopefully they'll have a really strong push with iOS 4.0 for iPad (and it won't just be the same features as the iPhone, just larger).
I totally agree that a unified iOS 4.1 for all iDevices would be the logical way to go, and I hope that's what we'll get come Fall. But I still think the reason why that won't be available until Fall is because of all the technical reasons 2002cbr600f4i suggested. The jailbreak community is having all sorts of problems porting over JB apps to the iPad because of "quirks" particular to 3.2, and I imagine the software engineers at Apple are going through similar difficulties patching iPad OS into iOS 4.