iOS 5 to Deliver Over-the-air Updates?

According to sources close to Apple, the company will begin to provide software updates over the air waves.

What does this mean to you?  No longer will you have to plug in your handset into your computer, launch iTunes, download the update and then install it.  Instead, your phone will prompt you to update your iOS when it becomes available, something other smartphone manufacturers have been doing since the beginning of their time, including Android.

iOS 5 will in all likelihood arrive this September when the next iPhone arrives.  However, since the current iOS lacks the ability to receives updates over-the-air, at least as far as we know, this iteration of the software will be delivered using the traditional method but contain the necessary workings for the wireless updates to occur in the future.  

9to5mac says that Verizon and Apple have been in talks since the beginning of the year to provide this update, while AT&T is still unknown.

Backing up the iPhone’s contents, something you should always do before installing an update just in case it crashes, might still have to be completed using a wired method. Unless of course Apple simultaneously rolls out a free or ultra cheap cloud based service, which have been hearing about for sometime now.

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