We may only be up to iOS 4.3, but that doesn’t mean Apple‘s programmers aren’t hard at work on the next whole number update to the company’s mobile operating system. There’s already been talk of a possible Apple press conference in April that will focus on MobileMe and iOS 5, but now it seems the winds may be blowing in a different direction.
Instead, the iOS 5 launch might be pushed all the way into fall — when some believe an iPad 3 may be released — with a reveal coming at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference, or WWDC, in June, TechCrunch reports via “two solid sources.” The iOS 5 reveal is said to tie heavily in with another big push for Apple at this year’s WWDC, the announcement of some sort of cloud service.
The details are few, though Apple’s planned cloud features are said to include some sort of “music locker” as well as a location service for finding friends and family. The new iOS will be heavy on the cloud support, and it is expected to arrive alongside whatever the iPad-related fall announcement might be.
For those who only associate the word “cloud” with those fluffy white things floating up in the sky, “cloud computing” involves using the Internet to access a shared set of software, data and the like from a centralized hub. To use an example, the “music locker” referred to above would presumably offer some sort of functionality in which all purchased iTunes content could be accessed by any iOS and streamed directly to it. Provided there’s a handy Internet connection, the utopian ideal is instant and immediate access to all of your owned content, thus eliminating the need for local storage.
