As you probably heard by now, there might be some hope for iPhone 4S users with poor battery life. Apple addressed that iOS 5 contained an issue, and proceeded to seed iOS 5.0.1 to developers.

Now 9to5Mac is reporting that Apple is going beyond just developers, inviting select users with problems to beta test the software. Apple is also notifying its retail staff to encourage customers to hang on for a “few weeks” until the software update is ready, if the customers are experiencing battery issues.

Apple invites you to participate in a software seeding project. We have selected you, based on a referral from AppleCare for participation in our program, to assist us in testing an upcoming iOS 5 Software Update. Please follow the directions below to complete the invitation process.

A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. If you are helping one of those customers, follow standard procedure to rule out any hardware issues with the device. If no hardware issues are found, let the customer know that Apple has found a few bugs in iOS 5 affecting battery life and Apple will release a software update to address those in a few weeks.

Apart from just battery life issues, iOS 5.0.1 also includes numerous fixes and enhancements from the original release, as well as adding multitasking gestures for the original iPad. We’ll keep you posted on the release date of iOS 5.0.1.

[via MacRumors]