iPhone delays Apple's next big cat

In the push to get the iPhone out on time, Apple has been forced to delay the release of the next version of Mac OS X until October.

The Mac maker revealed the scheduling slip in a press release after the close of the stock market yesterday. The iPhone is still on track for a June release - around the time of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) - but engineers and quality assurance staffers working on Leopard needed to switch projects to ensure the iPhone arrives as planned, Apple said.

As a result, Leopard will not be ready this spring, a time frame Apple had reiterated several times over the past few months. A "near final" version of the operating system - Mac OS X 10.5 - will be distributed to developers at WWDC for testing. The final release will be available in October.

Apple said in its press release: "Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we're sure we've made the right ones."

An Apple representative declined to provide more details on the delay, beyond what was included in the statement.

Wall Street reacted immediately, sending Apple's stock down a little more than two per cent in after-hours trading. Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies Associates, said: "They've shaken people's confidence in their ability to execute."

Apple was also forced to delay its Apple TV product in February, although it didn't specify a reason at the time. Apple TV was released in March.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs previewed Leopard at last year's WWDC, showing off several features such as the Time Machine backup software and Core Animation, which lets developers create new types of sophisticated applications.

The company has said all along that Leopard would be a spring 2007 product but Apple and Apple watchers have been obsessed with the iPhone since Jobs unveiled it in January at Macworld.

Apple's statement announcing the Leopard delay led off by re-emphasising that the iPhone is expected to ship in late June. Leopard isn't mentioned until halfway through.

It said: "However, 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, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned."

The delay is unlikely to make a huge impact on Mac shipments, according to Endpoint's Kay. Apple won't see any revenue from Leopard in the third quarter but revenue from the iPhone should offset that, he said.

Tom Krazit writes for CNET News.com