Hi Lifehacker, So we know from Apple’s recent media event that iOS 5 will be available to download this week. My question is, in Australia do we get to download when it is 12am on October 12 here or do we have to wait till it is 12am on the 12th in US Pacific Time to download it? Thanks, Impatient
Dear Impatient,
As we were reminded with pre-orders for the iPhone 4S, Apple timing is usually dictated these days by what is happening in California. That’s the case here too: while the US press release about iOS 5 says that it will be available from October 12, the equivalent release sent by Apple Australia to journalists fingers the 13th as the date. If Apple goes with a midnight release US Pacific Time, we’d see it around 6pm on that date in Australia’s DST-observing Eastern states. But the October 13 dating suggests it might happen later in the day for the US, with us pushed over into the early hours of the morning.
In the past, Apple has sometimes made updates available a few hours ahead of official launch time; on other occasions, it has happened later than planned. Scheduling what happens online is difficult for any large company, so this shouldn’t be a great shock.
If you’re really keen to get upgraded ahead of schedule, you can grab the final developer builds right now, but with not that long to wait, patience might be more sensible. Just do the other important stuff: back up your iDevice so you’re ready for tomorrow’s update, and remind yourself of iOS 5′s most important new features so you can plan what you want to play with first.
Cheers
Lifehacker
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