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Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has diverted development resources from Mac OS X Leopard to its iPhone team so the company can meet the massive expectations of the tech world and ship the iPhone in June, as previously promised.
In an informal statement posted on Apple's Web site, the company notes that the iPhone has passed several required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June.
"We can't wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is. 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 QA (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 statement explains. Apple states it will ship Leopard in October.
In addition, those hungry to get their hands on an iPhone might note the phrase "late June" as it relates to iPhone delivery. Previous industry predictions pegged the iPhone for delivery on June 11 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. Now, if Apple has the iPhone ready for the masses by June 11, this innocuous little phrase may let Apple CEO Steve Jobs amp up the drama if he decides to take center stage at the conference.
Date-Leaping Leopard
Leopard is the next version of the Mac OS X operating system, and it's rumored to surpass many of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Vista's new features."Leopard was designed to push Vista as it was originally conceived, and that means it is a relatively huge move for the platform," Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told MacNewsWorld.
"Apple is making a big change to the user interface, a big increase in the ability to run Windows applications and integrate in a Windows shop, and tuning it for the next generation of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) hardware -- they are even rumored to have a better gaming solution. There is a lot in Leopard and, as a result, a lot that can go wrong," he said.
Apple was originally shooting to release Leopard by the end of 2006, but pushed it to March, then June and now October, Enderle added.
Leopard's features will be complete by June 11, Apple explained, but the company won't have all the bugs squashed. Apple will send developers at its conference home with beta copies, though, to facilitate application testing.
Ominous Signs?
The iPhone seemed nearly complete when Steve Jobs first showed it off in January, which may have been more show than substance -- though previewing incomplete hardware and software is hardly an industry first.
"Phones go through extensive testing with the phone service provider, and that was supposedly just starting when they announced it," Enderle explained. "This is Apple's first phone and it uses a unique operating system for a phone. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a new device, and phones that crash aren't very popular."
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