Apple customers worldwide are experiencing difficulties updating their devices to iOS 5. The culprit? Popularity. iTunes is having difficulty authenticating the iOS 5 update with Apple’s servers, probably because so many people are trying to upgrade at once. Once iTunes fails to upgrade, it refers the user to an iTunes help page with the URL referencing “error=3200,” and is so widespread that “Error 3200″ is currently trending worldwide on Twitter.

Earlier today, Apple released iOS 5 for download to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users. And as can be expected, the download isn’t moving along very quickly. iTunes is telling me at press time that it’ll be about two hours before I’ll be able to install the update and take advantage of new features such as Notifications, Reminders, iMessage and the iTunes Movie Trailers app.

Two weeks after developers saw the release of the fifth iOS 5 beta, Apple has started seeding iOS 5 beta 6 (build 9A5302b) today. As usual, alongside this came new seeds of iTunes 10.5 (now at beta 6 as well), Apple TV’s iOS 4.4 beta 5 and Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 6.

Even though iOS 5 won’t reach the public until this fall (possibly as early as next month), Apple has already started to approve iOS 5 compatible app updates in its App Store. Apps such as Mashable and Camera+ note iOS 5 compatibility in their changelogs. iOS 5 will likely be released alongside the rumored next-generation iPhone very soon.

Very shortly after releasing iOS 4.3.4, which was thought to be the last iOS 4 release since iOS 5 will be out this fall, Apple has surprised us with another update in order to address a security vulnerability with certificate validation. The release comes as iOS 4.3.5 build 8L1 for all supported iDevices except for the CDMA iPhone 4 which gets iOS 4.2.10 build 8E600 instead.

Apple released iOS 5 beta 4 today, along with iTunes 10.5 beta 4 and Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 4, to developers. The most significant part of this news is that Apple has enabled the ability to update to iOS 5 beta 4 OTA for developers on iOS 5 beta 3 (confirmed working on both Wi-Fi and 3G). As always, a matching beta version of iTunes 10.5 is required to sync with the newest iOS beta, and both betas are strictly meant for developers only.

We’ve known iOS 4.3.4 was coming since Apple spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd announced it, and now it has been released to the public. iOS 4.3.4 is now available for all iDevices, and merely patches the PDF exploit used in JailbreakMe 3.0 without delivering any other fixes or new features. Obviously, if you’re jailbroken via JailbreakMe, updating to 4.3.4 will lose your jailbreak and is not worth it since you can simply patch the PDF exploit within Cydia with the PDF Patcher package once you’re jailbroken.

Apple has just released the iOS 5 Beta 3 to app developers with one noticeable feature being a new control panel. 9to5 Mac has published some screenshots of the beta running on an iPhone 4, one of which shows the new control panel containing several functions: rotate screen, lock screen, volume up, volume down, muted, and shake. This control panel can be accessed by simply swiping from a user-chosen corner of the screen.

Even though iOS 5 is near public release, comex’s JailbreakMe 3.0 has driven Apple to work on another update to iOS 4 in order to patch the PDF exploit used in the untethered jailbreak, the first ever to support the iPad 2. The PDF exploit used to achieve the untethered jailbreak with JailbreakMe leaves iDevices open to security threats such as malware, although Apple is likely more concerned over the extremely user-friendly jailbreak which merely requires a user to visit the JailbreakMe web site and follow the on-screen directions.

Apple has been known to pull apps from the App Store after their initial approval many times before, leaving those who purchased or downloaded them without the chance of receiving updates or getting them back should they later delete them. However, thanks to the new iCloud features Apple has brought to the App Store this week, a new glitch has surfaced that allows users to redownload and reinstall apps that have been banned.