iOS 4.2 Release Delayed

iPad owners have been counting the days until iOS 4.2 will be released for the tablet, but it seems that the wait will continue for at least another few days while Apple does some fine-tuning of the Wi-Fi connectivity.

The new release date is expected on Tuesday, November 16. A problem has been discovered in the Gold Master version released to developers. There are many reports in the Apple forums that the iPad on iOS 4.2 has issues with randomly dropping the Wi-Fi connection. But for owners of 3G versions of the iPad, that wouldn’t be such a big deal. Many iPad owners with Wi-Fi only versions of the Apple tablet, and having an update makes the Wi-Fi connection flaky and would render the iPad useless.

Although it seems like a delay as a result of the emotional letdown that Apple didn’t meet the arbitrary release date, the fact is that Apple may have had a good reason for not assigning a release date. The whole point of beta testing and pre-release versions released to developers is to try and identify issues and address them before the general release of the update.

Until that process is complete, Apple can’t really be sure the update is ready for launch. Everything is rolling along exactly as it should, and Apple will release iOS 4.2 once the issues are resolved and the update is ready for public consumption.