Bad news for Apple consumers who have anxiously been awaiting its next operating system installment of Mac OS X, also known as Leopard; Apple announced today that while it had planned on releasing Leopard at WWDC 07′ in June, that date has been pushed back to October. Those attending WWDC will get to take home a near final version of Leopard, but that version will not be shipped because Apple does not consider it to be a “quality release”.
The cause for this delay is that in order for the iPhone to be released on time in June, the company had to make a sacrifice when it came to other projects on the agenda. Apple released a statement regarding the setback saying, “The iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price - we had to borrow some key software engineering and (quality assurance) resources from our Mac OS X team.”
Product delays are not something that Apple is known for, in fact, it is only the second delay they have announced this year, the other being Apple TV, which was delayed until late March instead of its original date in February.
After the announcement of the delay, Apple shares dropped nearly 2 percent to $90.44. Apple acknowledged that the delay was a bit embarrassing, but it felt that the finished product will be worth the wait.
This will be the Mac OS X’s sixth installment since its debut in 2001.
