Nuance Email Claims iOS 7 Public Release on Sept. 10th

Apple’s September 10th iPhone event is all but officially confirmed at this point, but an email from Siri developer Nuance claims that Apple may also use the event to publicly release iOS 7. The email was reportedly sent to members of NDEV, Nuance’s program for mobile developers who wish to integrate the company’s voice and imaging services into their apps.

Dear NDEV Developer,

As you are probably aware, iOS 7 GA will be released on September 10th. The NDEV Program has pre-qualified that SpeechKit 1.4.5 works properly on iOS 7, but we encourage you to conduct your own testing to ensure that when the upgrade happens, your Nuance speech services continue to work seamlessly. Please report any difficulties you experience via our support page.

Sincerely,
The NDEV Mobile Team

The email’s claim about iOS 7 GA (“General Availability”) is notable in that such a release would be uncharacteristic for Apple based on recent history. The company usually unveils new iPhone hardware and discusses the final touches of new iOS software during an initial event, and then releases both a few weeks later, with the public release of a new version of iOS arriving a day or two before the hardware launch.

While many are excited by the prospect of getting iOS 7 early, it is also quite likely that the author of the email simply made a mistake, using “GA” instead of “GM” (Gold Master). The Gold Master is the final build of a version of software before release, but it is usually distributed to developers and partners ahead of a public launch. Apple has indeed released the GM of past versions of iOS to developers shortly following iPhone events, and is likely to do so again.

However, it is also possible that Apple is looking to make a more aggressive public relations splash next month and plans to release iOS 7 to everyone following the event, potentially even going so far as to make new iPhone pre-orders immediately available for a retail launch later in the week. In that event, it is still unclear as to how Nuance would have advanced knowledge of Apple’s plans. Although the two companies enjoy a close working relationship over the technology that powers Siri, and while some third party developers get advanced looks at upcoming Apple products and software, most sources outside of Apple are left out of the company’s release schedule planning.

As mentioned earlier, Apple will hold this year’s iPhone event on Tuesday, September 10. If the company follows precedent, the event will start at 1:00 PM EDT (10:00 AM PDT).