iOS 5 pushed to the fall: major revamp, cloud-based, WWDC preview?

TechCrunch reports that Apple has decided to wait until fall 2011 to launch their rumored iOS 5 for iOS devices: iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Major iOS upgrades are typically revealed by Apple during February or March then previewed again in early June alongside a new iPhone, then released on or around the new iPhone’s availability date. The report claims that 2011 will be different and that customers will likely only get their hands on the next-generation mobile operating system during the fall. It would make sense that Apple would unveil the final touches at their annual fall/September music event.

The report says we’ll most likely get our first glimpse at iOS 5 at Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in early June, and we assume developers will get a preview download at that date. The report is scarce on iOS 5 details but it does claim that it’s a major revamp and it will be heavily cloud-based. This should go hand-in-hand with the rumored music locker service from Apple – in addition to Media Stream and Find my Friends. TechCrunch is again expected a new iPad for a fall announcement- that just doesn’t seem likely to us, though.

In terms of Apple launching a fifth-generation iPhone at WWDC with iOS 4 – it does not seem likely given Apple’s past release cycles but could be possible. In fact, we found references to an iPhone 5 with an A5 processor – same one as in the iPad 2 – in the iOS 4.3 development kit. Apple also appears to still be working on iOS 4.x as they released an update yesterday. In addition, Media Stream and Find my Friends were both found in the iOS 4.3 SDK. Apple is also rumored to launch a revamped MobileMe around April that is also heavily cloud-based. Perhaps the new (possibly free) service will tie together with Apple’s next-gen iOS.

TechCrunch has not been the most accurate when it comes to pinpointing Apple information. Less than a week after the iPad’s unveil in January 2010 they reported that Apple is already at work on a Mac OS X tablet  – for a 2010 launch – with an intel processor. They were one of the many sites who pinpointed a January reveal of the Verizon iPhone 4, though. TechCrunch also said back in 2008 that Apple is working on their own search engine.