Update mania: iOS 4.1 out next week with iOS 4.2 to follow in November

As everyone no doubt knows there was an Apple event this week, most of which was spent talking smack to Google and boasting about how they have a veritable army of users ready and waiting to take over the world.  But aside from stating that they have amassed a sizeable force of techno troops they also revealed some tasty updates that are in the pipeline for iPhone and iPod touch.

Aside from the standard bug fixes the new update promises beefed up photography and also something called ‘Game Center’.  ‘Game Center’ seems to be a pretty big deal as it’s Apple’s version of Xbox Live.  It provides high score tables, friend lists, achievements and multiplayer match-ups among other all singing all dancing features.  This doesn’t seem to be a white elephant as ‘Game Center’ is going to be incorporated into a whole host of different games.  At the event the insanely popular Angry Birds was demoed.  So you would think that iOS 4.1 would be the last update for a while right?  Wrong!

The big surprise was that Mr.Jobs also unveiled iOS 4.2 which is set to go live in November for iPhone, iPod touch and even iPad.  So iPad users can have the joy of folders, the all new ‘Game Center’, multi-tasking and other iOS 4 features.  This update will also include wireless printing as well as something called ‘AirPlay’.  ‘AirPlay’ will let you stream music, videos and photos from your iOS device to your TV.  To do this you will of course need another Apple product which this time comes in the shape of Apple’s new set-top box, which was also announced.

So with all these updates and new features it seems like Apple have not been resting on their laurels following the launch of the iPhone 4 juggernaut.  The new updates seem to actually be filled with new features that could make using your Apple device a more fulfilling experience.  Or you could ignore them!