diff --git a/setup/qt5-migrate.py b/setup/qt5-migrate.py
index cabb736594..85147a5798 100644
--- a/setup/qt5-migrate.py
+++ b/setup/qt5-migrate.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
 __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2014, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
+# QT5XX: Get rid of is_beta special processing in update.py
+
 # QT5XX: Delete this file after migration is completed
 
 import os, re
diff --git a/src/calibre/constants.py b/src/calibre/constants.py
index 510b28cd6a..d25f7adc3d 100644
--- a/src/calibre/constants.py
+++ b/src/calibre/constants.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ __license__   = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2008, Kovid Goyal kovid@kovidgoyal.net'
 __docformat__ = 'restructuredtext en'
 __appname__   = u'calibre'
-numeric_version = (1, 48, 0)
+numeric_version = (1, 900, 0)
 __version__   = u'.'.join(map(unicode, numeric_version))
 __author__    = u"Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>"
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/update.py b/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
index e6845f9bcb..a878599515 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/update.py
@@ -150,7 +150,8 @@ class UpdateMixin(object):
 
     def update_found(self, calibre_version, number_of_plugin_updates, force=False, no_show_popup=False):
         self.last_newest_calibre_version = calibre_version
-        has_calibre_update = calibre_version != NO_CALIBRE_UPDATE
+        is_beta = numeric_version[0] == 1 and numeric_version[1] >= 900
+        has_calibre_update = calibre_version != NO_CALIBRE_UPDATE and not is_beta
         has_plugin_updates = number_of_plugin_updates > 0
         self.plugin_update_found(number_of_plugin_updates)
         version_url = binascii.hexlify(cPickle.dumps((calibre_version, number_of_plugin_updates), -1))