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Why you should wait for IOs 5 and Iphone 4S

It has been an exciting week for iPhone and iPad users! With the launch announcement of the iPhone 4S and iOS 5, it’s important to understand what this means for your business. Remember our recommendation to hold off on the Lion update when it came out in July? Well, we have the same cautionary advice for iOS 5, as there’s going to be a number of compatibility issues that need to be addressed by the software developers of iOS applications. This list includes Apple, as they are also going to need to release some updates (i.e., to iTunes and iCloud). This process could take weeks (sometimes months) and is dependent on how drastic of a change iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S are to the business world.

In a nutshell, here’s our best advice on next steps:

  • iOS 5 will be ready for free download via iTunes next Wednesday, October 12. We strongly recommend you hold off on installing the upgrade until that all the apps you care about are compatible with iOS 5. Once you upgrade, it is impossible to go back to iOS 4. Note that this includes not downloading the upgrade on your iPad and iPod Touch as well.
  • The iPhone 4S will hit the stores next Friday, October 14. Again, we strongly recommend that you do not purchase the new iPhone until that all the apps you care about are compatible with iOS 5. iPhone 4S comes pre-installed with iOS 5, therefore downgrading the software is not possible.
  • You can check the status of any of your apps on the App Store. Note that the App should state specifically that it is iOS 5 compatible. If iOS 5 is not mentioned, you should assume that it is not compatible yet.

As a quick reference, here is the iOS 5 compatibility status of a few apps we know most of our business users have on their iOS devices…

  • Daylite Touch = Currently in Beta
  • 1Password = No ETA Yet
  • SugarSync = No ETA Yet
  • DropBox = No ETA Yet
  • Evernote = Compatible as of version 4.1.2
  • Inrix Traffic = No ETA Yet
  • Docs to Go = No ETA Yet
  • Good Reader = Currently in Beta

Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for more information as well as any relevant updates!

[Update Tuesday; October 11, 2011: Added details regarding the status of apps we know most of our business clients use on their iOS devices.]

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