According to sources close to Apple, the release of iOS 4.2 for iPhone and iPad has been delayed until November 24th. The Telegraph reports:

But a source that works closely with Apple said that the company had shelved its original plan to release the software update today, and had instead pushed back the launch until later this month.

Although this isn’t technically a delay (Apple officially announced that iOS 4.2 will be released sometime in November), it was thought that Apple might have been planning to release iOS 4.2 today.

Apple released iTunes 10.1 earlier today, something they usually do at least a few days in advance of any major firmware update. Additionally, devs were seeded a new GM build of iOS 4.2 for the iPad just a few hours ago which corrected the WiFi issues plaguing the previous GM build. All of this suggests to us that Apple simply wants to ensure there are no overlooked issues that need to be patched before an official release.

Regardless, we’re still a little miffed about the possibility of not getting iOS 4.2 for another 12 days. How do you feel about a release on November 24th? Let us know in the comments!

[The Telegraph]

iOS 4.2 pushed back to November 24th? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Apple has just released a second GM build of iOS 4.2 for iPad to developers. There’s been several reports of wi-fi issues on the iPad under iOS 4.2 and it looks like this should address them. There were also rumors of iOS 4.2 being delayed due to the iPad issues.

As you can see from the screen above, the build number for the iPad has now been appended, meaning there’s a new build. The original GM build was 8C134. The new iPad build is 8C134b. Hopefully this will resolve issues quickly and iOS 4.2 will drop sometime next week. If any developers see any changes other than the some general bug fixes for the iPad wi-fi issue, let us know! I only looked briefly but don’t see anything other than iPad bug fixes.

Apple releases new iOS 4.2 GM seed for iPad to Developers is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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iTunes 10.1 is now available for download on both Mac and PC. In preparation for the impending release of iOS 4.2, Apple has released the newest version of iTunes which will be necessary to install the new firmware. Also, iTunes 10.1 brings AirPlay to the Apple TV and provides for a number of important stability and performance improvements.

Have you found any other improvements? Let us know by leaving a comment!

Apple.com/iTunes/

iTunes 10.1 now available for download is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

According to a survey conducted by BoxTone Mobile Service Management, Apple’s iPad is becoming increasingly popular with corporations. They recently conducted several webinars to find out what IT departments felt about utilizing Apple’s iPad.

BoxTone recently conducted three large Webinars on the topic of securing and managing enterprise iPads at the point of use. During the Webinars, BoxTone leveraged an interactive polling feature to garner the responses from nearly 1200 IT professionals and line of business executives at more than 800 enterprises, government agencies and Managed Services Providers. Half of the survey respondents were from the Fortune® 100; and nearly one-third of the companies participating in the surveys were in the Fortune® 500. Over 10 percent of all respondents were members of the executive tier and C-suite.

Some interesting findings were that 73% of the surveyed companies intend on deploying the iPad as well as other iOS devices for use on their network within the next 12 months, with 25% of those companies set to deploy right away. More than 50% of those surveyed plan on deploying their own iPad app within the next 12 months, while 25% of those plan on deploying as many as three of their own iPad apps.

It is clear that iPad adoption has been fairly quick on the consumer end and now it looks as though it will be a welcome new addition into the corporate world. As the iPad only evolves in features and specs I can only imagine the growth it will continue to have in both the consumer and corporate markets.

Do you work for a company that has adopted the iPad or other iOS device into its ecosystem? If so how do you utilize the iPad in your daily work? Sound off in the comments below as we would like to hear how your company is utilizing Apple’s revolutionary tablet.

[ BoxTone via TUAW ]

iPad continuing its assault on enterprise is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Using the release version of Mac OS X 10.6.5 and curious how to re-enable network AirPrint for your iPhone or iPad? Apple seems to have us in limbo as to whether or not this feature will actually work when the final version of iOS 4.2 ships, but if you have the current iOS 4.2 GM software and aren’t afraid to get your geek on, you can get it working now. Follow on after the break to find out how…

Developer Steven Troughton Smith broke down the process on his High Caffeine Content blog, and it goes like this:

• Search the dark places of the interwebs for a pre-release developer build of Mac OS X 10.5.6. (10H542 is known to work).
• Migrate the following files to your Mac:
  • /usr/libexec/cups/filter/urftopdf
  • /usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs
  • /usr/share/cups/mime/apple.types
• Go to Print & Fax in System Preferences and remove and re-add your printer
• Go to Sharing in System Preferences and enable printer sharing

He adds:

Basically, doing this should add the image/urf mimetype to your shared printer, and a new Bonjour field ‘URF’. Once you have those, it should work. Theoretically, there’s no reason someone can’t write a server application that broadcasts said Bonjour info and prints for you, so you don’t have to use files from a prerelease build. I would expect something like that to appear over the next few weeks.

So there you have it, a simple if not easy way to be able to AirPrint from iOS 4.2 GM to shared printer on Mac OS 10.6.5. If you try it out, let us know how it works for you!

[High Caffeine Content]

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Ninja tip: How to re-enable network AirPrint on Mac is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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While Apple’s iTunes App Store for iPhone and iPad has improved in countless ways since its introduction in 2008 — including the recent reversal of the cross-compiler ban and the publication of the app review guidelines — several major problems persist for both develops and users, especially the lack of trial apps, paid upgrades, and subscriptions. While the mobile app ecosystem is the new frontier and arguments can be made about how closely guarded it needs to be, Apple is about to bring the App Store concept “Back to the Mac“. That’s an environment where developers and users are not only accustomed to, but expect features like trials and upgrades.

So while we’re all still waiting on iOS 4.2, I’m going to leap ahead a little and start thinking about what I want in iOS 5, and right now I’m hoping Apple takes the opportunity to bring some of the Mac back to the iPhone and iPad.

Note: Chad, Bjango’s Marc Edwards, and I discussed some of these issues on the last iPad Live! podcast so give that a listen as background.

Trials

There is still, some 2+ years later, no way to try out or demo apps on the iTunes App Store. With Mac software many developers choose to provide time-limited demo modes with the option to pay later and transform them into the fully functional versions. “Try before you buy.” On the iPhone and iPad App Store, developers are not allowed to time-limit their apps, so that kind of demo is not possible. Unlike some other platforms, Apple doesn’t allow for refund periods either. So, if you buy an app and hate it, you can’t uninstall it within 24 hours (for example) and get your money back. That’s bad for users because it makes them hesitate when shopping and its bad for developers who can end up with customers, for whatever reason, unhappily stuck with their app. (Or it forces prices down to make everything an impulse buy, lowering the market and potential for premium apps.)

The App Store does allow for in-app purchase, and after a previous policy change Apple now allows free apps to charge for in-app purchases, so that can be used as a pseudo-demo mode. For example, Twitterrific is free but if you make the in-app purchase, it removes the adds and enables multiple user accounts. PCalc offers additional functions and themes. Games allow for the purchase of additional levels. There are many examples. However, not all types of apps have features modular enough that they can be easily broken down and divided into a free app with discreet packages available for in-app purchase. It also forces developers to provide a free version, costing them sales from users for whom the free version is enough.

Free or Lite versions are another common work around but they come with their own mixed bag of hurt. Users who start with the free version and decide to buy the paid version have no way of moving their data over form the former to the latter. That’s annoying when it’s game levels that need to be replayed. It’s a royal pain when its important personal or business data that needs to be re-entered or re-generated. Also, for developers, it means having to maintain two closely related yet separate apps. Messy.

Time-limited apps are more elegant. iTunes already handles time-limited movie and TV show rentals for Hollywood, why not for the App Store? Or why not simply provide that 24-hour refund window the way other app marketplaces do. There would be transactional and administrative overhead for Apple, of course, but there’s transactional and administrative overhead now for free apps. And the benefits in terms of customer experience — typically a focus of Apple’s — could make up for it.

Upgrades

When Atebits rewrote Tweetie 2 (now Twitter for iPhone) from the ground up, the only choice was to give it away as a free upgrade to all existing Twitter users (of which there were many) or submit it as a new app and charge everyone full price, existing and new user alike. That’s because Apple doesn’t provide a mechanism for paid upgrades — i.e., to charge existing users less than new users. If you upgrade Mac software, developers almost always choose to reward customer loyalty by charging less than they would for a new license. On iPhone or iPad, it’s literally all or nothing. That’s bad for users because they’re out a few extra dollars and that’s bad for developers because they suffer push-back from angry users.

iTunes knows what apps we’ve bought. We know it knows because when we try to buy a paid app we’ve already bought, iTunes tells use we’ve already bought it and that we can download it again for free. Why can’t the same system be used to determine, for example, that we’ve already bought Tweetie 1 and hence we can download Tweetie 2 at an upgrade price. Apple could allow developers to set that upgrade price in iTunes Connect, an extension of how they can set universal sale prices today. We’ve seen some strange screens pop up that seem to indicate Apple is at least experimenting with the idea, but why not pull the trigger? Again, it’s more overhead for Apple but the customer experience boost would be enormous.

Subscriptions

Before Apple announced iBooks, rumor had it they would announce not only eBooks but electronic magazines and newspapers as well. Going back to the iOS 3 (then iPhone 3.0) Sneak Preview Event, Apple mentioned subscriptions as one of the new App Store features, alongside in-app purchases. Nothing much had come of them, so magazines and newspapers seemed like a perfect fit. But then came the iOS 4 sneak preview event with no mention of either newspapers or magazines, or subscriptions.

Technologically Apple has show with iTunes TV show season passes that they can handle subscriptions. So what’s the hang up? Conventional wisdom says there’s a battle going on between Apple and the big media companies over who gets ownership of customer data. Media isn’t just about selling content it’s about collecting marketing data that can be monetized. Apple wants our names, demographics, and card numbers. Big media wants our names, demographics, and card numbers. And we just want our magazines and newspapers.

Apple should offer subscriptions and just let those businesses and developers who want to use it, use it. Customer experience. Again.

In 2008 the App Store revolutionized mobile software. iPhone and iPad users confidently and effortlessly buy and use tons of apps. For those who remember the mobile software space before the App Store, that in and of itself is remarkable. Since then Apple has steadily improved it with in-app purchases, integration with accessories, and now mobile advertising. But there are still a few hurdles that need to be overcome. We’ve seen hints and heard rumors that Apple is working on almost all of these things. With the Mac App Store on its way, the need is only going to get greater. Hopefully Apple will rise to the occasion come next March/April and the iOS 5 Sneak Preview Event.

iOS 5 App Store wants: trials, upgrades, and subscriptions is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The 2010 TiPb Awards are underway and it’s time to vote on all your favorites. This time it’s for your favorite new iPhone/iPad feature of the year.

This year we have a lot to choose from. iOS 4 brought tons of functionality and iPad, iPhone 4, and iPod touch 4 made them shine, but there can only be one 2010 TiPb Readers Choice Award winner! Choose your favorite in the pole above and then let us know why you chose the favorite you did in comments below. (And if you don’t see your favorite here, add it as a write-in as well!)

• AirPlay
• FaceTime
• Folders
• Game Center
• Multitasking
• Retina Display

Ready, set, vote!

Vote now for your favorite new iPhone/iPad feature of the year – TiPb Awards is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The iOS 4.2 GM build seems to missing something — AirPlay support for iPhone 3G. As we all know, iPhone 3G is already missing several iOS 4 features, and wasn’t scheduled to get AirPrint either. Apple has said in the past 2008 hardware just wasn’t able to keep up. However, AirPlay was alive and well on iPhone 3G throughout iOS 4.2 betas and Apple’s very own website claimed that AirPlay would work for every iOS 4 device, which would include the iPhone 3G.

Obviously we will have to wait until iOS 4.2 goes public to see if Apple will indeed include AirPlay support for iPhone 3G, but as of now it looks like iPhone 3G owners have another reason to be disappointed in their device.

If you are still rocking an iPhone 3G, how do you feel about the possibility of once again being left out in the cold?

[ 9 to 5 Mac ]

iPhone 3G: AirPlay not included? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Developer Tom Cool has successfully brought Wiimote functionality to the Apple TV by activating a custom BT stack that uses Apple TV’s built in Bluetooth. So far the demo only shows a virtual representation on screen which perfectly mirrors the movement of the Wiimote, however it shouldn’t be too long before full Wiimote or even iPhone/iPod touch controlled gaming is brought to the Apple TV.

Are you excited for some Apple TV jailbreak gaming? Check out the video below and if you’re curious about it, find out more in our Jailbreak Forum.

YouTube link

Apple TV gets Wiimote! [Jailbreak] is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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There are a couple stories floating around the web tonight involving iOS 4.2 and it’s release date, with the usually reliable iPhoneHellas saying simply that it will arrive next Tuesday, November 16, and MacStories adding that it’s actually been pushed back to the 16th due to iPad Wi-Fi bugs and a new GM candidate will precede it.

For their part Apple has only ever said “November” when it comes to the iOS 4.2 release schedule.

Could next Tuesday be the day? If so, was it always scheduled to be the day or is it really a delay?

[iPhoneHellas, MacRumors, MacStories, thanks to everyone who sent these in!]

iOS 4.2 coming next Tuesday, November 16? Delayed? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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