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Apple Delays Leopard Release

Lol

woah! lots of troll-like postings here!

Well, I have never hated the iFone. I think Tiger is greater than Vista.
I think I would be called a zealot or a "fanboi". However, None of the negative comments affect me. My Mac friends are sometimes pissed off at Apple, but they always like their products in the end. It is just funny to see the endless comments of "iHatethem"

Well, not only newbies troll these threads...
I don't think buying a Dell or whatever would be anything compared to the Mac experience. Even on the consumer side. There is *cough* bootcamp. Just use it if you can.

btw, I knew that Stella was not a girl.
 
Teddy's said:
woah! lots of troll-like postings here!

Well, I have never hated the iFone. I think Tiger is greater than Vista.
I think I would be called a zealot or a "fanboi". However, None of the negative comments affect me. My Mac friends are sometimes pissed off at Apple, but they always like their products in the end. It is just funny to see the endless comments of "iHatethem"

Well, not only newbies troll these threads...
I don't think buying a Dell or whatever would be anything compared to the Mac experience. Even on the consumer side. There is *cough* bootcamp. Just use it if you can.

btw, I knew that Stella was not a girl.
Click to expand...

I am not trolling here I am serious. I have lurked on this forum for a long time and like the information and educated guesses posted here. With that said Apple isn't impressing me yet. Service in the local Apple store was luke warm at best and now after waiting for the new OS and hardware this crappy delay happens. If they let the new hardware go in June (not a good chance of that) and then the new OS in October then I could live with it.

As for October that is a terrible date because as it has been mentioned that's way after school starts and I think it will hurts sales.
 
wvtbred said:
snip

As for October that is a terrible date because as it has been mentioned that's way after school starts and I think it will hurts sales.
Click to expand...

I think it will boost Leopard sales. People were going to buy computers right after WWDC07 one way or another. Now those people are caving in or just going to wait as soon as Santa Rosa is dropped into the notebook computers.

Then we have the EDU people who will wait till Aug/Sept, but will need it and get a computer with Tiger.


Now all those people who would of had Leopard ended up with Tiger, most will want to upgrade causing more purchases.
 
My take on the matter...

For me, this is annoying, somewhat disappointing, but certainly not the end of the world. I currently have a 20" intel CD iMac running 10.4.9. I wanted to buy an MBP this June with Leopard on it. So now that's not going to happend. But it's really not that big of a deal. My new plan is to buy the MBP in June (assuming it's updated, if not, I'm waiting til it is refreshed) and then will use my delicious edu discount for Leopard in October. Not really that big of a deal folks, if you need the hardware, buy it. If you don't, please be patient and stop complaining. Enough people have complained that I think we get the point. We don't need a "ditto" or "me too" post (or another 30 pages thereof). Lol, and if (ironically) this post is also a "me too" post copying something else, I'll apologize now, I'm not reading 3.6 million pages of comments attached to the article :). But seriously, worry not, we'll get a really nice finished product in October.:apple:
 
BigPrince said:
I think it will boost Leopard sales. People were going to buy computers right after WWDC07 one way or another. Now those people are caving in or just going to wait as soon as Santa Rosa is dropped into the notebook computers.

Then we have the EDU people who will wait till Aug/Sept, but will need it and get a computer with Tiger.


Now all those people who would of had Leopard ended up with Tiger, most will want to upgrade causing more purchases.
Click to expand...

So when do you think the new hardware will come out? Will they show it at WWDC07?
 
network23 said:
Quit your whining, folks. Don't you get it?

This is the answer to everyone who's been shouting about how there aren't any big "secret features" left, even though Apple has said so many times, because they would not release 10.5 without the developers having a chance to test/integrate said new features with their products.

How long is reasonable for them to do that?

Three months?

WWDC will see Apple showing EVERYTHING going into Leopard. Developers will get a late-release beta to test and work with. Apple has three months to squash any last-minute bugs that are sure to turn up.

This is not bad news. This is smart thinking.
Click to expand...


June is the month of Apple

Leopard beta will be released, secret features revealed, I figure some hardware updates, iPhone released in US, and maybe a teaser about fullscreen ipod to go along with the update about the iphone.
Consumer credit cards will run hot this summer :cool:
 
wvtbred said:
So when do you think the new hardware will come out? Will they show it at WWDC07?
Click to expand...

Yes, I think Leopard and hardware upgrades are totally unrelated.

People just lost it last week and just trying to make the situation much worse then it truly is.

People have already caved in who were waiting for WWDC.
 
BigPrince said:
Yes, I think Leopard and hardware upgrades are totally unrelated.

People just lost it last week and just trying to make the situation much worse then it truly is.

People have already caved in who were waiting for WWDC.
Click to expand...
I wonder where people got the idea that hardware and software releases are tied together. The Santa Rosa platform release is just around the corner.
 
MacSyn said:
Now all Mac users can't laugh at Vista's delayed anymore... :p
Click to expand...

I think we can still laugh. ;)

Vista was years behind schedule and they took out many of the features originally planned. Apple is only adding features and quality w/ the delay.

Pretty opposite. :D
 
Eidorian said:
I wonder where people got the idea that hardware and software releases are tied together. The Santa Rosa platform release is just around the corner.
Click to expand...

I know they are generally not connected but some posts here in the past had just that happening. If the new iMac comes out in June I will still buy it then upgrade once Leopard is solid.
 
I left on a business trip just before the big announcement on Thursday and I just found out today when I got back. I missed the initial shock, but after a couple of hours, one word came to mind that put everything in perspective: Copland. After waiting through that fiasco, I think I can wait until October, especially if it means that there really will be secret features in Leopard.
 
i'm glad i got my machine when i did. a few mates were holding out 'till leopard was released to get theirs. now they don't know what to do. while i sit here with a big smile typing away on a super fast macbook pro hehe :D
 
Kashchei said:
I left on a business trip just before the big announcement on Thursday and I just found out today when I got back. I missed the initial shock, but after a couple of hours, one word came to mind that put everything in perspective: Copland. After waiting through that fiasco, I think I can wait until October, especially if it means that there really will be secret features in Leopard.
Click to expand...

Heh.

There are plenty of projects that just didn't end up on time. Think of the gap between Rhapsody being available in beta form and it being obtainable (Mac OS X Server 1.0 - remember that?), and then between *that* and the first Mac OS X as we'd know it.

...and then the year or so between Mac OS X 10.0 and Jaguar, the first version of Mac OS X as we'd *want* it. Hard to imagine a time when Mac users genuinely had mixed feelings about whether it was worth "upgrading" (if it could be called that at all) from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X, but before Jaguar, that's genuinely how people felt.

So Leopard is delayed for *six months*. And it's being delayed for the best possible reasons, a company with stretched resources deciding it's better to do it right than to do it quickly. There are plenty of things I'd attack Apple for, I've done so on many occasions here and made myself pretty unpopular as a result, but on this issue, I think (from the available evidence) that Apple are doing the right thing, that this is no big deal, that there are plenty of bigger disappointments from the past.

Six month delay? As opposed to Taligent (next big thing to spun-off-and-never-heard-of-again), Copland (the wrong platform designed by the wrong people at the wrong time), Rhapsody (withheld), Mac OS X 10.0/1 (too early, sucked as a result), the dropping of the PowerPC line...

In a few months, a radical new version of Mac OS X will come out, which will have many features we already know are ahead of the field, and probably many more we don't know about yet. A small delay to get it right is not a cancellation, it's not Apple heading down the wrong path (even if they're following a second path that's unrelated to the Mac), it's not preventing us from getting something great, it's just a small delay to get it right.
 
First post here but I've been reading on this site for over a year now since my conversion to the "light side". Anyway, this one finally got me off my lazy behind to actually post something. I think there is much more at play here than Leopard itself and the reasons for the delay are more complicated than most realize, IMO. Before I get into that, though, I will say that I have never been one to criticize a company for delaying a product release. I didn't criticize MS for delaying Vista and I won't criticize Apple for delaying Leopard. My distaste for MS comes from so much more than the delays in Vista shipping but, having said that, there is a big difference between the release timeframes of major OS upgrades in the two companies. As for Vista, I don't like it, not because it's a MS product but because, well, because I don't like it. Having used OS X for over a year after 20 years of Windows, I guess I'm just spoiled. I really don't understand people who dislike a product because of the company that makes it. Vista is not a great OS and if Apple released I would say the same thing. People who are now bashing Apple because of the Leopard delay should ask themselves why? Is it because they see it as a loss to the hated MS much like your favorite team losing a sporting match?

Anyway on to my reasoning for the delay. I believe there are three major reasons for the delay and they all relate to this year being a major turning point for Apple. I don't believe it has anything to do with priorities or name changes or anything else sinister. The logic for me seems sound and, if I am correct, it speaks of a real brilliance on the part of the marketing people at Apple, if they play this properly.

So here we go:

1. Last year and early this year have seen a surge in Mac sales like never before in the past as more and more people (like myself) have found an easier, better way of computing. MS released Vista and it has been met with a lukewarm response at best from both the media and general public. This is a huge opportunity for Apple and they have exploited Vista's shortcomings at every opportunity. Apple needs to make the most of this and that means delivering Leopard as a complete as-bulletproof-as-possible upgrade. Rushing it to market in any way with any shortcomings puts it in the same class as Vista in the eye of the general public. This is one place where Apple's market share actually works in their favor because the delay of Leopard just ain't getting much press outside the Mac community. Most general users don't even know Leopard is coming so a delay doesn't affect the general impression of Apple as whole and certainly does not have the same impact that a rushed, buggy release of Leopard would. On the other hand, a compelete, stable release of Leopard with even just a few killer features will undoubtedly vault Apple to even further heights.

2. By timing the announcements, first of the "planned" release of Leopard (remember Apple never gave a definite date or even month, just a "spring 2007"), they have kept at least some of the focus of the IT world on their products. Combine this with an announcement of the iPhone early in the year and the anticipation it has generated along with the release of the Apple TV, plus the rumored touch screen iPod coming in the third quarter and a possible pattern starts to emerge. Apple seems to be quietly keeping at least some industry focus on their products.

3. Here's the real kicker. With an October release, Apple moves ahead to a point where any excitement over Vista has waned and many people have become frustrated with Vista as an OS. In the interim, Apple releases the Apple TV, the iPhone, and (IMO anyway) a new iPod and the focus builds over the year with the public hearing more and more about Apple. People buy the phone and then all those iPhone, iPod and Apple Tv users out there get hit with Leopard, a new operating system from the same company that makes their other gadgets, with some killer new features and, here's the kicker, at the beginning of the busiest shopping season of the year!

So Apple slowly builds anticipation through the year with new products that get people talking and buying Apple gear and then right before Christmas, here comes Leopard? Vista what? How many Macs will that sell?

I know Apple will lose some sales due to Leopard's delay but I don't think it will be significant at all compared to what they will sell in the fall. IMO, if this is the scenario they are working towards then it is a truly brilliant piece of marketing.

Just my take on a possible scenario.............
 
stinks for students

My biggest gripe isn't so much that Leopard is delayed, but that it's delayed until Fall Semester is 1/2 way through.
(August, September, <October>, November, December)

It's just far enough into the semester that if students need a new computer that they can't really wait for Leopard, and then two months later will likely shell out more cash for the new OS, when it could have just come with it.

I know Apple Edu discounts are pretty good, but still for some students that could have gone for a good couple months of Ramen-Noodles to survive on :p

Anyhow I hope Apple can get the bug list gone by then, and get their spiffy-secret features so well implemented and cool that we will all be in great aww and forget that Leopard was even late.
 
I suspect a couple of reasons for the delay in OS X 10.5:

1. Multi-touch functionality is to be included, and its not fully supported by the iLife and iWork applications yet.

2. Muli-touch requires new technology to be overlaid on screens and new firmware.

3. New mouse needs to be available at release to provide multi-touch functionality to Macs without multi-touch sensitive screens.

4. Development and QA resources were obviously channelled to the iPhone project until the last couple of weeks.

5. OS X 10.5.1 will be released right before the Xmas buying season.

MacPomme
 
So, what are you going to do to make us happy Apple?

OK Apple, so now you need to do something to make loyal Mac users happy.
How about another offering of $200 off an ipod with a Mac purchase for students and educators like a few years ago... Or maybe a raincheck on a free version of 10.5 if you buy a Mac in the next several months.

:p
 
I guess that scratches waiting off the list. Might as well purchase Leopard when it does release then. I'll just save my money and once I have enough, pull the trigger.
 
Looks like I'll be buying my iMac in the next month, and will probably never upgrade to Leopard. Once I buy a computer I rarely, if ever, upgrade the OS. Oh well, at least I'll have my iMac.
 
IMHO the delay in leopard shouldn't be too much of a problem for students etc, as christmas will be round the corner and maybe (dunno how it will work) 10.5.1 may be out with less bugs ;)

I'm gettin my MB with ipod and apple hi-fi at the end of the month, can't wait!!! :D
 
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