As if any more confirmation was needed that the next iPad is ready and waiting for the March 7th launch, tech blog Ars Technica has discovered visitors using iPads running iOS 6 in its server logs.
Ars initially noticed a total of 346 visits from a device with a 2048×1536 resolution – matching the spec of the all-but confirmed Retina display – said to have been produced by Sharp. Of course, with no link between the screen resolution and Apple’s next iPad, it’s not certain that said devices are in fact internal samples of the iPad 2’s successor. Then again, there are hardly any devices in circulation with that particular resolution, which does suggest staff in Cupertino may be testing the waters before next Wednesday’s showcasing.
Intrigued, the guys over at Ars then checked out iPad user agents from Apple’s corporate IP block in Cupertino, and found that Apple appeared to be browsing Web using iPads running on iOS 5, the current iOS 5.0.1 , iOS 5.1 – currently at developer-only beta stage – and surprisingly, "iOS 6.0".
There has been little discussion regarding iOS 6 – the fruit company’s next major mobile OS release – which is predicted to arrive this summer along with the iPhone 5. The iPads found to be using iOS 6 were also running newer builds of WebKit – 535.8 compared with the older OSes, which are all shown to be using WebKit 534.46.
Whilst iOS 6 is not likely to feature at the iPad event – or indeed anytime soon – the findings do indicate that it’s a work in progress, and although iOS 5 has sat well with iDevice users, the prospect of iOS 6 is still an exciting one. For now, expect iOS 5.1 to be released with the new iPad, which we presume will be called iPad 3, but could also be released under the name of iPad HD.
With all these reports streaming through, it will be nice to finally see the preview of the device. Not sure about you guys, but the anticipation is bordering on the unbearable for us!
One thing is for sure, we’ll cover every detail of the entire event here at Redmond Pie in depth and breadth as it breaks, so stay tuned!
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