PREDICTION: Apple to release iPhone 5 on October 4 and start shipping by the end of October.Apple reportedly plans to release the golden master of iOS 5, its forthcoming operating system update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, to its overseas assemblers at some point between September 23 and September 30, on time for a mid-October launch of a fifth-generation iPhone.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed to AppleInsider on Monday that the new iPhone and iPod touch went into mass production in late August, and assemblers are currently scheduled to receive the golden master of iOS 5 the week of September 30. Typically, a golden master version of software is identical to the code that eventually becomes the final release to the public.
