According to a source for MacStories, the next release of iOS, 4.3, will be released on December 13th. This is surprisingly close to the release of the current version, 4.2.1, which just went public this week. Of course, the current release had a few delays due to bugs, so Apple may have been thrown off schedule by quite a bit.
The update will supposedly include needed bug-fixes and code maintenance, along with support for News Corp’s tablet-only publication, “The Daily”.
News Corp. has spent the last three months assembling a newsroom that will soon be about 100 staffers strong. The Daily will launch in beta mode sometime around Christmas, and will be introduced to the public on the iPad and other tablet devices in early 2011. It is expected to cost 99 cents a week, or about $4.25 a month. It will come out — as the name suggests — seven days a week.
An update to iOS would be necessary due to a possible change to iTunes’ back-end, in order to support a new recurring subscription model, which could also affect App Store application. (Changes in code would need to be made to add the necessary API.)
Optimistically, Apple may also be using this release to introduce the long-awaited iTunes cloud music service, though there are no additional rumors of this happening at this point.
