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Reports suggest late-October Leopard release

It looks like Apple is gearing up to release the next version of Mac OS X in late October, later than originally scheduled but in line with what the company had promised earlier this year.

Tom Krazit Former Staff writer, CNET News
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Google, as the most prominent company on the Internet defends its search juggernaut while expanding into nearly anything it thinks possible. He has previously written about Apple, the traditional PC industry, and chip companies. E-mail Tom.
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Apple said the next Mac OS X version would arrive in October, and two reports out Thursday say the company's going to use as many days of this month as it can before letting Leopard loose.

Both AppleInsider and ThinkSecret reported Thursday that Leopard is tracking for a October 26th release, which would be the last Friday of the month and, if my baseball luck continues to hold, will probably be Game 7 of the World Series. In April, Apple delayed the release of Leopard from June to October, citing the need to get the iPhone out on time.

A look at the new desktop that will ship with Leopard, the next Mac OS X version expected in late October. Apple

When Apple released Tiger in 2005, it also chose the last Friday of the month to start selling the new operating system. About 200 people lined up outside the downtown San Francisco Apple store to get their hands on the new operating system that day, and a similar crowd will probably be back this time around.

Leopard, formally known as Mac OS X 10.5, will come with a new set of updates to the look and feel of the Mac desktop screen, as well as new features like Time Machine and a production version of Boot Camp. It's currently available for preorder at Amazon.com for $129 for a single license or $199 for a family license.