iPhone iOS 4.2 Update Coming on Friday?

Evidence is mounting that Apple plans to release iOS 4.2 to anxious iPhone and iPad owners at 10 AM PST on Friday, November 12. iTunes 10.1, which hasn't been released yet, will be required to install the iOS 4.2 firmware. All indications are that Apple will launch iTunes 10.1 and Mac OS X 10.6.5 as early as Wednesday to prepare for the iOS 4.2 public release. The golden master of iOS 4.2 has already been seeded to developers and is not expected to change in the public version.

German blog iFun found evidence (above) that Apple plans to push carrier updates to wireless service providers on November 12. This date matches with inside infomation from an anonymous AT&T employee revealed by MacStories. The source also stated that Apple was delayed in its release of iOS 4.2 due to a bug discovered by AT&T testers. iOS 4.2 was originally slated for release on November 2, however an error in the display of Japanese characters required a fix from Apple.

The source confirmed that iTunes and Mac OS X 10.6.5 have both been certified for release. The updates are necessary for computers to share a printer with an iPhone running iOS 4.2 with AirPrint. In addition to AirPrint, Apple is launching AirPlay, which allows users to stream multimedia content between devices.

iOS 4.2 will finally allow iPad users to have features such as folders and Game Center. The firmware update is also expected to add features such as custom SMS tones to the iPhone, fix the passcode lock security hole, and speed up iOS 4 running on the iPhone 3G. iPhone and iPad users will be able to install iOS 4.2 free of charge via iTunes.