Windows Phone OS; now iOS: It’s the age of public beta-testing

Making unfinished smartphone software available to the general public seems to be the new cool in the smartphone world. Microsoft recently kicked it off with Windows Insider for phones. And now, it is being rumoured that Apple wants to give the public the chance to test the next iOS beta too.

Whether it is Windows Phone OS or iOS, the beta testing thing gives users access to early versions of the operating system so as to report bugs back to the development team. The feedback will help fine-tune the OS which is then released back to the public when ” finished” .

The question now is, when is Google joining the bandwagon with Android OS public beta testing? Some will argue though that Google has been using the public for beta testing all along without tagging it that. Oh, well.

Of course, app developers have been doing this for years, and the benefits are well known. We are just beginning to see it happen at the OS level. Welcome to the new world order in which consumers essentially become guinea pigs.