Apple prepares for pre-iPhone 5 iCloud launch

By Jonny Evans

Apple [AAPL] is preparing to launch its iCloud and iTunes Match services in early October as it warns beta testers of its much-vaunted services that it intends resetting their accounts.

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See the iCloud on the skyline

Apple last night warned iTunes Match iCloud beta testers that it will delete their libraries on Monday, September 26 at 10am PST. This will mean users will lose access to their libraries until the service launches once again at some indeterminate point.

The company has also moved to reset its iCloud services accounts for beta testers on September 22, as the company moves to deliver its iCloud services Golden Master.  

These actions come as the company is understood to be preparing for an early October launch event for the new iPhone(s).

Likely launch plans
The most likely-seeming schedule for the launch seems likely to be a Tim Cook-hosted product announcement in early October at which point iOS 5 and iCloud will be made available.

Products themselves will then ship a couple of weeks later in the US and then on a staggered launch on an international basis.

As the eleventh hour chimes there have been claims of display manufacture issues afflicting one supplier, Wintek, which means a small number of the new devices may suffer from a creeping display defect, but this is unknown at this time.

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In related news, Apple has also seeded an all-new, iCloud-supporting version of OS X 10.7 (Lion), the release notes for which explain:

"The 10.7.2 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes support for iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that automatically and wirelessly store your content on iCloud and push it to all of your devices. iCloud on OS X Lion includes the following features:

• iCloud stores your email, calendars, contacts, Safari bookmarks, and Safari Reading List and automatically pushes them to all your devices.
• Back to My Mac provides remote access to your Mac from another Mac anywhere on the Internet.
• Find My Mac helps find a missing Mac by locating it on a map and allows you to remotely lock the Mac or wipe all its data."

Finally, Apple may have raised its Q4 iPhone sales estimates on strength of anticipated Christmas demand for the device, with Digitimes reporting Apple now expects to shift up to 26 million of the new devices, up from the 22 million previously predicted.

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