iOS 6 GM - Due 12th Sept

[kiwiboi87]

after last night, beta 4 is far from ready.
i had massive issues, the phone reset it self 3 times.
and iMessage was playing up as well

 

[8a22a]

2 hours to go.

 

[dejo]

My bets are on no new beta this week.

 

[batting1000]

If Apple is planning on releasing another beta / more betas, it will have to be some time this week.

 

[nutmac]

I've only been developing iOS since iOS 3 beta, but from what I can recollect, the final developer beta has always been unstable AND GM has always lagged final beta by at least one full month. Although Apple can always break their rules, if September 12 announcement date is true, Apple will release GM a week earlier leaving very little time for another beta.

 

[8a22a]

Ok, I'm willing accept there may not be a beta 5 then.

If so, here ends the fun for now.

 

[batting1000]

I've only been developing iOS since iOS 3 beta, but from what I can recollect, the final developer beta has always been unstable AND GM has always lagged final beta by at least one full month. Although Apple can always break their rules, if September 12 announcement date is true, Apple will release GM a week earlier leaving very little time for another beta.

They usually announce the GM at the event, not beforehand.

 

[Saberon]

If there's a beta 5 it's gotta be this week. The GM has to be ready for the iPhone 5 to ship with and is typically announced at the event which is *heavily* rumored of being Sep 12!

 

[KdParker]

If there's a beta 5 it's gotta be this week. The GM has to be ready for the iPhone 5 to ship with and is typically announced at the event which is *heavily* rumored of being Sep 12!

Could be next week and still have some time before the golden master by Sept 12th.

 

[cobbyco]

dont forget when apple ship the devices they must have the final OS on them, so i think that the GM will be released at least a week before the new iPhone's announcement, if not sooner.

 

[gmanist1000]

dont forget when apple ship the devices they must have the final OS on them, so i think that the GM will be released at least a week before the new iPhone's announcement, if not sooner.

It'll be released after the announcement. Then a week later on that Friday, when the iPhone is rumored to be released, the public build will be released to the world.

 

[applefanDrew]

It'll be released after the announcement. Then a week later on that Friday, when the iPhone is rumored to be released, the public build will be released to the world.

I'm pretty sure they will use the same pattern as the last two years. Phone announced sept 12. Gm seeded that day. On the 19th, iOS 6 released publicly. Sept 21 new iPhone released.

 

[gmanist1000]

I'm pretty sure they will use the same pattern as the last two years. Phone announced sept 12. Gm seeded that day. On the 19th, iOS 6 released publicly. Sept 21 new iPhone released.

True, releasing iOS 6 earlier would cause less strain on their servers for release day.

 

[willhains]

The graph is wrong in many places.
iOS SDK

Hi, I'm the author of that graph. In what ways do you think it is wrong?

(Please note: As noted on the chart page, GM releases are counted as betas, so for example a GM after "beta 4" will be shown as "beta 5".)

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That chart is inaccurate.

How so?

 

[8a22a]

Hi, I'm the author of that graph. In what ways do you think it is wrong?

(Please note: As noted on the chart page, GM releases are counted as betas, so for example a GM after "beta 4" will be shown as "beta 5".)

That is a bit confusing then. Maybe GMs would be better shown on Final graph?

 

[willhains]

That is a bit confusing then. Maybe GMs would be better shown on Final graph?

I thought about that, but the rationale is that I'm trying to show (and compare across versions) the time between a new iOS version being first announced until the time it is released.

Another reason is that Apple's use of the term "GM" is actually a lot closer to "beta" than a true GM. In the past, Apple has released "GM2", "GM3", etc.; furthermore we have seen GMs released that are different to the final public version.

 

[batting1000]

I thought about that, but the rationale is that I'm trying to show (and compare across versions) the time between a new iOS version being first announced until the time it is released.

Another reason is that Apple's use of the term "GM" is actually a lot closer to "beta" than a true GM. In the past, Apple has released "GM2", "GM3", etc.; furthermore we have seen GMs released that are different to the final public version.

This only happened once with iOS 4.2 / 4.2.1.

 

[Nyk0n]

If Apple is planning on releasing another beta / more betas, it will have to be some time this week.

doesn't have to be. Beta 4 was released on Aug 6th, Beta 5 will come no earlier than Aug 20th (under a two week release schedule as in past iOS Beta's) however iOS 6 beta's have been consistently under a 3 week release schedule.

So likely not before the 20th but should be on the 20th or 27th (would be three weeks then) the GM could still make it out about Sept 10th (two weeks after beta 5) as iOS 5 did it was only out a few days before the keynote showing off the 4S

 

[Ste0098]

IOS 6 beta 5 should be out anywhere between August 22-30th it's to early for an exact date right now. Depends on how many issues we need to patch

 

[nfl46]

My guess is Beta 5 next week, and GM on September 12th. They will spend around 3 weeks preparing the GM.

I think iOS 5 only had 5 Betas.

 

[batting1000]

I think iOS 5 only had 5 Betas.

iOS 5 has 7 betas plus a GM.

 

[8a22a]

iOS 5 has 7 betas plus a GM.

iOS 5 was close to beta 6 by this time though, so they're more spaced out this year.

 

[batting1000]

iOS 5 was close to beta 6 by this time though, so they're more spaced out this year.

Oh yeah, definitely. It honestly doesn't seem like it's making a difference, especially with these bugs popping up in each beta like the audio bug, etc. It seems like more frequent betas would be more beneficial. Not nightlies like Android ROMS but maybe every few days - a week.

 

[Menel]

Oh yeah, definitely. It honestly doesn't seem like it's making a difference, especially with these bugs popping up in each beta like the audio bug, etc. It seems like more frequent betas would be more beneficial. Not nightlies like Android ROMS but maybe every few days - a week.

They probably have nightlies for internal use, devlopment, and testing.

The beta's we are using from the iOS Developer Program are for developers to test their code against the changed API. Little glitches like audio bug, post to FB in notification center not always showing, keyboard glitches, crashing, are of no concern to Apple since the TOS made it clear this software is not for a production environment.

It serves it's purpose for devs to test code against altered API, nothing more.

 

[willhains]

They probably have nightlies for internal use, devlopment, and testing.

The beta's we are using from the iOS Developer Program are for developers to test their code against the changed API. Little glitches like audio bug, post to FB in notification center not always showing, keyboard glitches, crashing, are of no concern to Apple since the TOS made it clear this software is not for a production environment.

It serves it's purpose for devs to test code against altered API, nothing more.

Exactly! You got it. A common misunderstanding is that the betas show the current state of the latest & greatest build. They don't. You only have to look at the differences between the GM and the final public release version to see how far ahead Apple's internal builds are. (That's why I treat GMs as betas in my chart — all they represent is the final version of the APIs for app developers to test against. Apple is just saying, "We won't change the APIs any more after this one.")

Another reason, I suspect, is that there are unannounced new features in the OS, that have no public APIs for app developers to use, but they need to keep them out of the developer betas. They can maintain two parallel branches of the code for only so long, then they have to merge them together and test the result before public release.