Mac Rumors reports that Apple has released a first beta of iOS 4.2 to the developers

As noted by CoveringWeb, Apple has pushed out to developers the first beta version of iOS 4.2. At its media event on September 1st, Apple announced that iOS 4.2 would be released in November and would unify iOS across Apple's mobile devices, bringing iOS 4 features such as multitasking to the iPad for the first time.

  Apple Releases First iOS 4.2 Beta for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch