A previous report indicated that the iOS 7 may be delayed due to a major re-design but the latest report hints that Apple has pulled engineers from OS X 10.9 to work on iOS 7 development and the operating system will ship on schedule for a June preview at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
AllThingsD cites multiple sources and claims that the upcoming operating system will release per the company's planned schedule. AllThingsD also reports that the company has been getting help from engineers who are actually part of the OS X 10.9 team.
"Yes, yes — it's essentially a repeat of the iPhone/Leopard scenario," said a source to AllThingsD, referring to Apple's 2007 decision to pull engineers from OS X 10.5 to work on iPhone. "Not as much of a fire drill, though. It will ship on time."
Apple released iOS 6 along with the iPhone 5 in September 2012; however, iOS 6 did not receive the appreciation the company had expected and the Apple Maps fiasco took center stage, sidelining the operating system itself. Apple will now hope for a perfect iOS 7 launch.
"The key question here is whether those changes deliver on the core Apple promise of improving customers' ability to make productive use of the device and deliver a clearly superior experience," Forrester analyst Charles Golvin told AllThingsD. "Presumably they don't need the flashy stuff to realize that vision."
The Loop's Jim Dalrymple, a reputable tech pundit, is also backing the rumor that iOS 7 will ship on time.
If things go per Apple's plans, then we should at least see a pre-release iOS 7 build to showcase at the event, as well as a demo of OS X 10.9.
