Friday 13 Apr 2007 - 09:58
Apple has said it won't release the next version of the Mac operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 -- better known by its codename of 'Leopard' -- in early June as planned, blaming the delay on the iPhone.
Apple said that it borrowed some key software engineering and quality assurance resources from its OS X team in order to keep the iPhone on track to ship in June. As a result, the company won't release Leopard as planned at its Worldwide Developers Conference, taking place June 11-15 in San Francisco.
"iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can't wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is," reads a statement published by the company.
Instead, Apple will show off a near-final version at the conference in early June and give developers there a beta copy to take home with them. The final version of Leopard should ship in October.
"While Leopard's features will be complete by then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're sure we've made the right ones," reads the statement.
The iPhone contains "the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price," Apple said in a statement.
While unconfirmed rumors recently had the iPhone shipping June 11, Apple now says it will ship in late June.
Apple announced the iPhone earlier this year, unleashing a frenzy of anticipation among end users and competitors in the mobile phone sector. The phone will come with a touch screen and a music player.
Nancy Gohring and Peter Cohen
For more information see the Apple Web site.
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