Apple Delays Leopard Until October

Apple is putting off its next release of Mac OS X, codenamed Leopard, until October 2007...and blames all the effort it's putting into developing the iPhone.

Apple announced yesterday that it will delay the next version of it’s Mac OS X operating system (version 10.5, codenamed “Leopard”) until October, 2007. In a statement, the company says that it had planned to release the software in early June at its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) that opens June 11; however, attendees will instead be treated to a “near final” beta version of the operating system.

What’s to blame for the delay? That would be the Apple iPhone. The company says that in its effort to complete work on what the mobile industry seems to already think will be a paradigm-shifting device, it has had to divert development and quality assurance resources from its Mac OS X team to the iPhone team. However, Apple says the iPhone has passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule for its late June rollout.

Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” is slated to include several new technologies, inclugin an automated backup system (”Time Machine“), a virtual workspace organizer (”Spaces“), parental controls, and updates to key Mac OS X components like Mail, Dashboard, and Spotlight.