Want iOS 4.2 on Your iPad? Get Your UDID Handy

In reality is November really that long a wait .....

Dude a fee just to have a dev account what a ripoff. FanBoy Porn.

99$ for the closed beta vs 0$ for Android open source code...

to apple folks.., how do you like being held by the nads by Apple?

If another company charges a microscopic fee of 5 cents to enter their dev team. Those people will start crying and create a protest right at their HQ with pitch forks and torches. But if Apple charges $99 or even $10,000 to enter this "exclusive" club they will pony up and say it's "reasonable".

"you'll have to be signed up to the Developer Program at Apple and register your iPad's UDID number, which uniquely identifies your device, and allows you to install a beta firmware. Registration is required because iTunes will authenticate with Apple."

You must also register your blood type, submit a DNA sample and record yourself running around your house naked yelling "Steve Jobs is God!"

For anyone looking at doing this - you will need a current IOS development environment in place to install the beta firmware onto your device which, this includes the latest version of OSX and Xcode installed onto a Mac.

smh even my cousin in law has one... about to disown him

This is absurd. Both the limitations of the beta and charging for developer accounts. Developing for any hardware should be free of charge, whether it's a PC or an embedded device. A lot of money can be made from app sales alone. There is no need in screwing developers out of the ability to easily write software by charging a relatively small amount of money compared to what they will make when the app is released. Kudos to MacGeekBlog for at least limiting the amount so anyone can try out the new iOS without having to fork over $100.

I'm sure they consider it a privilege and honor.

What about privacy, I cannot opt for that.

wow, with all the Apple haters posting all the love, it's starting to sound like like you're a little jealous cuz there's no Android tablet worth buying much less signing up for a beta test... Let's keep the trolling and hate flowing! I love what Tom's is becoming...

Just wait till Apple blocks MacGeekBlog's account.

I know, I used to have a lot more respect for tom's users. These days half the comments you read are apple bashing, its kind of sad really.

In this case, $99 isn't unreasonable. Anyone thats bashing here ever looked at the prices to join the MSDN? $699 upfront and $499 annually is the minimum amount.

Apple has its faults, and it has a lot of them. The reason they are so well liked isn't that Apple users are idiots, its that Apples products, while still flawed, have far less flaws than a Dell machine for example. Right now an android device may be just as good or better than the iPhone, but can you honestly say there were better smartphone options even a year ago?

I believe that it's free to develop a software on Windows Mobile platform using Visual Studio Express and XNA is also free.

XNA is free to write, but in order to actually submit any work to XBLIG you need to pay an annual fee of $100 USD. I'm not against this fee at all, just stating you were wrong on the XNA for the sake of knowledge.

wow a 1 month wait is too long. ive been waiting for blackops since last december and for crysis 2 since god knows when.

Sorry, I meant that for on device development.

Making hundreds of thousands, possibly millions with the right app ... vs not making any on Android. I'm fairly certain that the developers of "Angry Birds" disagree with your logic.

Jieah... Like the iTunes Store isn't full of clones already. Fart apps and flashlight apps galore.

You don't need to register your udid to use this. Installed on my iPad with no udid registered and iTunes 10 with no issue at all so don't pay anyone for it find it online if you want it. You also don't need the latest of Xcode to install it either as someone stated...incorrectly.

You don't have to pay the $99 to sign up for the developer program. You only have to pay to submit apps to the app store. You can download the SDK along with XCode for free. Same as Microsoft you just have to register. If you don't want to post to the App Store you don't pay pretty simple.

what iPad?..

Agreed. It's entirely skewed data. Again apple aside the fallacy here is making the beta cost money. It is not a beta targeted at the consumer audience. In this case it is part of a package available to developers who are testing their code against the new platform prior to release. Not much unlike Microsoft offering driver code before launching windows. So if a developer wants for free to write code for iPhone, OSX, etc download the free software. If you want to take advantage of a suite of tools, development guis, trial offerings, etc pay $99. This article entirely misses the point and most of these comments have actually nothing to do with development. So if anyone wants to complain about how apple runs it's program for developers provide solid evidence that demonstrates why your position is against their practice. Keeping in mind that it is a choice to develop software which may make you money. Being a software developer is a career choice for many and $99 seems small compared to potential earnings.

If the point is that Apple should offer betas for free to the consumer base as well then that is a good argument to make. Apple has taken the position that they prefer the new version launches ready to work with all existing apps in the store. Which is a huge undertaking getting 200k developed programs to check their code works fine. That is their pitch to consumers and how they run things. In a way not so bad. Remember upgrading windows and the tool says "Sorry half of all things installed won't work with your new version of windows?" Apple is aiming to prevent that.

Question is, should consumers have a choice for free to trial software that is 4.1 ready before launch? Also the 4.1 OS itself before launch? So maybe apple should open a non-developer test for the general consumer.

I also agree with said above comments on Apple bashing. If you cannot make a valid position, provide facts to defend said position, recognize valid points of the opposition, and avoid fallacies then you are just shooting your mouth off and wasting air. If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all.

For a gadget like iPad - it is quite long. Until November it will be outdated already.

If you own just the WiFi version - there is no need to register the UDID (I doubt its required for the 3G version either but I haven't tested with an iPad). And the full development environment is also not required to install 4.2.

Compared to many development programs - $99 bucks for what you get is a steal. But of course - haters will be haters and don't understand the concept of ROI or value.

Anyone have a URL (other than through the Apple developer site) where the iOS 4.2 beta code can be downloaded?

Wow this service is now available for free! Check it out: http://www.udid4beta.com/contest/