Looking Into the Future With iOS 4.2

The next major iOS update is going to be iOS 4.2, promising a step up from the overhaul that we saw with iOS 4.  Through Apple's web cast press conference Steve Jobs announced that iOS 4.2 update would be released in November, and it can quickly be noted that the iOS 4.2 update is much more geared toward the iPad than the iPhone.

For those who want something earlier the iOS 4.1 update will be available for download and installation next week, which is all that many people expected to be announced today.  One of the major features that we are going to see with the iOS 4.2 is that multitasking has now made its way to the iPad.  Finally the folders option will be available on the iPad, which is going to be even more useful than on the iPhone.  More than this the iOS 4.2 update is going to usher in mobile printing with the Print Center actually making its way to center stage as a part of the regular task bar.  This is going to take the iPad much further into the realm of mobile computing and away from the implied simplicity of its iPhone source.

Air Play may be the most noticeable innovation of the iOS 4.2 update as it will allow for mobile networking of streaming music from your iDevice.  With Air Play you will actually be able to utilize the music functions through other devices, which is the kind of media centralization that Apple has always been looking for with its devices like the iPhone and Apple TV.  The specifics of Air Play still need to be seen, but it is not presented that Air Play is going to allow the general media content of your iPad to be used with peripheral media devices.

Most of the features that will come in iOS 4.1, which fixes quite a few bugs, will also be included in iOS 4.2 for the iPad.  This shows that Apple is gearing the iPad's operating system to handle an increasing level of functionality in the next year, all of which is an effort to show the legitimacy of the iPad through its possibilities.