Apple may release iOS 7 to general public on September 10th, the day when Apple is widely rumored to unveil iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C, reports TheVerge. The report is based on an email that Owen Williams, a contributing writer at TheNextWeb, has received from Nuance, the company which powers Siri’s speech recognition technology.
Owen Williams has posted the following email on his personal blog, that reads:
As you are probably aware, iOS 7 GA will be released on September 10th. The NDEV Program has pre-qualified that SpeechKit 1.4.5 works properly on iOS 7, but we encourage you to conduct own testing to ensure that when the upgrade happens, your Nuance speech services continue to work seamlessly.
It’s hard to believe that a company that is now a key partner to Apple will leak such information like this. Historically, Apple has released iOS GM (Golden Master) version to developers on the same day of unveiling new iPhones, so that developers may test their apps and make them compatible with the latest iOS before it’s released to general public a couple of days before the launch of new iPhones.
If true, iOS 7 release on September 10th could also indicate that Apple is planning a release date for new iPhones much closer to September 10th event itself.
The email specifically mentions “iOS 7 GA”. So, what exactly is the difference between GM and GA? GM stands for Golden Master and is the final version of the software ready for the manufacturers, while GA stands for General Availability, a marketing stage at which the software is ready for the public purchase.
Apple is expected to unveil iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C on September 10th and the rumored launch date for new iPhones is September 20th.
More on iOS 7
Download iOS 7 IPSW
Download iOS 7.0.1
How to update to iOS 7
Downgrade iOS 7 to iOS 6.1.4 / 6.1.3
iOS 7 GM
iOS 7 release date