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Apple Inc. said on it is delaying the release of its
new Leopard operating system in order to get its much-ballyhooed
iPhone to market in June as promised.
Apple originally planned to
unleash the Leopard operating system for its Macintosh computers in
trademark theatrical style at its Worldwide Developers Conference in
San Francisco in June.
Software engineers and quality
assurance teams were shifted from working on Leopard to crafting and
testing the iPhone, according to the Cupertino, California-based
company.
“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.
“Life often presents tradeoffs
and, in this case, we’re sure we’ve made the right one.”
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs
in January unveiled the iPhone, a new mobile phone that can also be
used as a digital music player and camera.
Apple said its heralded Leopard
operating system will be finished by June but will still be in the
testing phase. Leopard should ship in October, according to Apple.
“If they were going to slip a
project, it was better they slip Leopard rather than iPhone,” said
analyst Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research.
“It is not likely to be a big
issue at all. It does tend to be a little embarrassing for them, but
that is in the intrinsic nature of trying to deliver a complex
operating system and the iPhone simultaneously.”
Macintosh computers represent
less than five percent of the global market and owners tend toward
cultish loyalty that makes it likely they will tolerate a delay in
the release of Leopard despite any disappointment, analysts said.
The iPhone system is built on the
Leopard, or Mac OS X, operating system so it is natural for the
projects to be interdependent at Apple, according to Gartenberg.
“Any time you do a complex
operating system release and you give a target date you are bound to
run the risk of missing it,” Gartenberg said. “These kinds of
things are inevitable and, knowing Apple’s track record, it
wouldn’t surprise me if they shipped Leopard before October.”
 --AFP
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