Apple has released iOS 4.3, the latest version of its operating system for mobile devices. This is available for iPhone (4 and 3GS), iPod Touch (3rd and 4th generation) as well as iPad and iPad 2 devices. The update is available through iTunes 10.2 for both Windows and Mac systems. Note that whilst the iPhone 3G was supported for the iOS 4.2 update, it is no longer supported in the iOS 4.3 update. Since iOS 4.3 contains security updates, this may leave iPhone 3G users vulnerable.

iOS 4.3 introduces the “personal hotspot” feature, first seen in the iPhone 4 on Verizon. This allows the iPhone to create a virtual hotspot for use by up to five devices; three over WiFi, three over bluetooth and one over USB. Data access over the virtual hotspot may be routed through a different APN (the data routing access point for the network) and charged under different rates to the main iPhone data plan.

Another addition is that of iTunes home sharing, which brings iTunes into the world of media centres. Although it's always been possible to stream media from an iTunes server to an iTunes desktop computer, this integrates other iOS devices to consume (as well as broadcast) media to other AirPlay devices.

For iPad users, iOS 4.3 brings sanity back to the hardware switch, as a software setting which allows changing between mute and orientation lock. For both iPad and iPhone/iPod devices, the new operating system brings improved performance, particularly in the WebKit implementation of the Safari browser