Apple promises to launch iOS 5 to its users by this fall, and it’s making sure developers are ready. After all, one of the biggest issues with rival Android’s Honeycomb OS was that there were very little apps supporting the platform at launch, something Apple wants to avoid. Beta 2 introduced a WiFi sync feature, while the newly released beta 3 comes with several improvements and bug fixes, as well a location services settings panel.

“This means users can turn off things like location-based advertisements, while keeping traffic tools on. Apple’s also included an option to enable or disable location services when first setting up an iOS device.”

This is important from at least one aspect. First and foremost, privacy concerns around location data have been in the spotlight ever since researchers from the U.K. publicized the fact that iOS stored unencrypted user location data. Apple fixed this with a patch released a while back, though not in time to prevent a public outcry.

Another point is that advertisers working  may not take it too well that their audience will suddenly shrink by a sizable percentage. Mobile ads only account for small portions of the company’s earnings, though Apple is already struggling to keep up with competing ad networks, ever before these new options have become available.

Apple holds a very large share of the mobile market, though it’s still facing a fair amount of competition from other players, particularly Android. This is especially true now that we’ve learned the next Honeycomb update Google will roll out will include a button allowing users to resize content designed for smartphones to their tablet display. And over in Redmond,  Microsoft is strengthening its ties with Nokia to develop devices powered by its Windows Phone 7 mobile OS.