Apple announcements brewing for late October

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc. has begun preparatory measures for significant announcements to take place during the last full week of October, AppleInsider has been told.

While sources have requested that we not go into detail regarding the specific measures being put into place, they say the announcements are likely to arrive any time between the 22nd and 27th of the month.

Obviously, such a timeframe would coincide with Apple's self-imposed release schedule for Mac OS X Leopard, which the company -- after having delayed the software once -- has promised for "October."

As of Wednesday evening, the source code to Leopard had not yet been frozen and a Gold Master had not yet been declared. However, the operating system in recent weeks has inched closer to this status with the last full builds including only one known issue.

Historically, Apple has tapped the final Friday of the month to roll out its major operating system overhauls. For instance, it launched Mac OS X Tiger on the eve of Friday, April 29, 2005.

Sources have yet to rule out the possibility that Leopard would be accompanied by additional announcements from the Cupertino-based company.

Update: We are receiving additional tips from industry sources who indicate that October 26 is currently the estimated ship date for Mac OS X Leopard.

For those readers who don't plan to run out to an Apple store the day Leopard hits the streets, Amazon.com is currently taking pre-orders with a price guarantee of $129 for the single license edition and $199 for the 5-license family edition.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Vulcan1]

Oh man, finally! Can't wait for the leopard anymore

[mcnaugha]

I heard that there could be new MacBook (and or Pro) very soon. Not just a speed bump!

Then again, it could just be the iPhone Extreme. 3G anyone?

[techno]

I heard it will be an iLawyer to combat all of the frivolous lawsuits.

[yvo84]

I hope it's the ultraportable, cause i already know i want one.

[atticusdsf]

@techno:

she already exists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2U4hyT0gIM

[Cedric]

Originally Posted by yvo84

I hope it's the ultraportable, cause i already know i want one.

Please Please Please Santa Steve
an iPhone for Europe and a (external) keyboard for the iPhone that would be my perfect portable for taking notes at university...
Please Please Please Santa Steve
one more... 80GB touch-iPod would be great too
Please Please Please Santa Steve

Regards,
Cédric

[MoBird]

Well this does not bode well for actually seeing the physical release of Leopard in October. Announcing the release vs. the actual physical release are two completely different things.

But Apple does what Apple wants to nowadays. I guess they feel that any further negative press really can't hurt them.

[mcnaugha]

At Yovo84: Yeah it could be. With a SSD and multi-touch screen? Expensive, but light. My 17-inch MBP is a beast to carry.

[dan.blanchard]

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but the latest build of Leopard most certainly does not have "one or two outstanding issues" like everyone has been reporting. Just because Apple decided to only list two on the release notes, does not make it true. I've given it a try on a few occasions (with the latest seed), and I've consistently had kernel panics when using AFP shares, and broken WebClip functionality (every time I make a clip in Safari, nothing appears on the Dashboard until I restart, and then they just appear as little boxes telling me that I needed to add the widget via Safari). If they just fix the two highly publicized issues and release it, it is going to be one unstable OS.

[kerryb]

I am ready to get a new Mac Pro, using a G4 tower 933 vintage 2001. Really thought about the new iMac but I just can't get past that shiny screen. My iSight crapped out on me yesterday so I would love a new 24" display with built in iSight camera. I'll wait to 10.5 figuring the $100+ saved having it pre-loaded can go to adding RAM. Of course I don't really expect this set up and imagine MacWorld for the announcement of new Mac Pro's.

[mcnaugha]

At dan.blanchard: I haven't had any problems accessing AFP shares on either a G5 or MBP. Haven't used WebClip mind you. Has been pretty solid for me. 9A559 is getting old now though. I have little doubt that engineering is working around the clock on this.

[John the Geek]

Originally Posted by dan.blanchard

I hate to burst everyone's bubble, but the latest build of Leopard most certainly does not have "one or two outstanding issues" like everyone has been reporting. Just because Apple decided to only list two on the release notes, does not make it true. I've given it a try on a few occasions (with the latest seed), and I've consistently had kernel panics when using AFP shares, and broken WebClip functionality (every time I make a clip in Safari, nothing appears on the Dashboard until I restart, and then they just appear as little boxes telling me that I needed to add the widget via Safari). If they just fix the two highly publicized issues and release it, it is going to be one unstable OS.

Have you reported these bugs?

There will be other known issues with the release, but they don't list them in the release notes because they divide bugs up based on time it takes to complete them. Many known bugs were pushed back for a 10.5.1 update because they were labeled as "not serious" enough to halt the release of Leopard. I expect we'll get 10.5.1 not too long after the discs for 10.5.0 arrive.

The current build isn't bad though. I haven't experienced any of the bugs you mentioned, so perhaps you need to contact Apple and report them.

[Hobbes]

I'll guess:

• Leopard (with a slightly buggy 10.5.0 release) - Oct 26

• a handful of small iPhone integrated features for Leopard (e.g. ability to sync Notes with Mail to-dos)

• an announcement of widgets for the iPhone (with *some* offline capabilities), coming January.

[desarc]

Originally Posted by mcnaugha

At Yovo84: Yeah it could be. With a SSD and multi-touch screen? Expensive, but light. My 17-inch MBP is a beast to carry.

definately, life is hard when i have to lift my 7 pounds of heavy mbp off the couch to surf the net. wahh wahh wahhhhhh. [that's if i don't want to use my phone]

i want a 2 pound laptop w/ EXTERNAL optical drive options and SSD storage options - 64 GB would be perfect. [12.1" x 1366 x 768?] one usb, one fw400, one fw800, express34, wifi g/n, and bluetooth. iSight would be nice, too. Ohh, and make it .6" thin. Lastly, can you do all that including an external HD optical drive for $1500? fine fine, i'll pay 2K if it's got multitouch, HD-DVD/Blu-Ray and 1080p video out.

ohh, and come out with some new monitors this month - multitouch FTW!

[baygbm]

Originally Posted by kerryb

I am ready to get a new Mac Pro, using a G4 tower 933 vintage 2001. Really thought about the new iMac but I just can't get past that shiny screen. My iSight crapped out on me yesterday so I would love a new 24" display with built in iSight camera. I'll wait to 10.5 figuring the $100+ saved having it pre-loaded can go to adding RAM. Of course I don't really expect this set up and imagine MacWorld for the announcement of new Mac Pro's.

I can beat that! My G4 is from 1999 and I am the laughing stock of all my macfriends. I am so ready for a new MacPro. I just hope they offer BluRay as a BTO option!

I can’t believe AI has not yet spilled the beans on the upcoming MacPro.

[biggsjm]

Originally Posted by MoBird

Well this does not bode well for actually seeing the physical release of Leopard in October. Announcing the release vs. the actual physical release are two completely different things.

But Apple does what Apple wants to nowadays. I guess they feel that any further negative press really can't hurt them.

What are you talking about? You don't fully expect the announcement to be something similar to iLife / iWork announcement, where the product was available 5 minutes after the announcement in most stores?

Apple needs 2 weeks to produce enough media required for first weekend purchases. Its not like they make all of the copies at once. Assuming it went GM this week they could have media ready by the 20th or at most the middle of the following week. They still have a few days to go GM to make the 10/26 announcement date.

As far as negative press, its only negative because people are complaining about ridiculous stuff.

1. I hacked my iPhone and now it doesn't work anymore because I applied an update that everyone told me not to!

2. I bought a $600 phone and now its cheaper and I want my money back!

I personally bought a $599 iPhone and love it to pieces. Sure it would have been nice to wait an get it for $399, but you know what. . . that's life. As far as hacking goes. . . I tend to never do anything that would void a warranty on a product that costs more than $150. This includes opening most computers up. I at least wait until its out of warranty or reached the end of its useful life.

[atticusdsf]

leopard has it's issues, but point-0 leopard is much petter than point-0 tiger, supposing the current build is pretty much GM.

EDIT: i'm not talking out my ass either, i'm posting from a leopard machine.

[11thIndian]

Wasn't there talk during one of Job's keynotes that there would be AppleTV news later in the year?

I'm sure that this October event will either be Leopard dominated or at least will open it. But really, what more is there to say? We already got a full demo and price breakdown a couple months ago. Other than, "Leopard. It's here, shipping on all new Mac's starting today and available for purchase today." what can he talk about?

And if Apple is looking to make a holiday sales push for AppleTV, the sub-Macbook, etc.- they're going to have to do it soon. End of October is only 6 weeks to Christmas...

[city]

Maybe Apple will announce an iMac recall due to the talked about graphic card issue. What would that due to the stock price?

[orangetbear]

Being just before Christmas it's likely to be consumer stuff - so MacBooks might be a good fit. MacBook Pros are usually updated in January, and this seems like a good time to release the next iPhone too - being a year after it was originally announced...

[biggsjm]

Originally Posted by 11thIndian

Wasn't there talk during one of Job's keynotes that there would be AppleTV news later in the year?

I'm sure that this October event will either be Leopard dominated or at least will open it. But really, what more is there to say? We already got a full demo and price breakdown a couple months ago. Other than, "Leopard. It's here, shipping on all new Mac's starting today and available for purchase today." what can he talk about?

And if Apple is looking to make a holiday sales push for AppleTV, the sub-Macbook, etc.- they're going to have to do it soon. End of October is only 6 weeks to Christmas...

I doubt Apple's concerned about a "holiday sales push for Apple TV".

My guess, though, is that this is a Leopard-only event. There are some integration features Jobs will tout for the iPhone users (another way to get another cycle of iPhone news). As for new hardware, that's intriguing. . . I would almost bet that you can see one announcment . . . a speed bump at least. A new form factor might be too much with this high profile of a deadline to meet.

[Andy Howell]

Over here in the UK mac retailers have begun to offer significant discounts on the Mac Pro. Significant?

[TBaggins]

Originally Posted by mcnaugha

I heard that there could be new MacBook (and or Pro) very soon. Not just a speed bump!

New MacBooks would be VERY welcome.

I have this dream where Apple wakes up and actually has a notebook with a 15" screen that (OMG!) costs significantly less than $2000 (especially since PC notebooks at less than half that price now have 15" screens).

But then I wake up and realize that Apple is so desperately afraid of cannibalizing MacBook Pro sales that they want to "hobble the naughty MacBookses forever and EVER, my precioussssssssssss!!!"

Then again, it could just be the iPhone Extreme. 3G anyone?

That'd be awesome, but unlikely. I'd put my money on the iPhone not going 3G 'til the Asian launch in mid-2008. Even though I think that's going to hurt them some in Europe, and also a bit in the US now that the iPhone clones are starting to show up (such as the LG Voyager).

...

[netdog]

Originally Posted by Andy Howell

Over here in the UK mac retailers have begun to offer significant discounts on the Mac Pro. Significant?

Which retailers? Certainly not at the Apple Store on Regent Street.

[palple]

Originally Posted by John the Geek

Have you reported these bugs?

There will be other known issues with the release, but they don't list them in the release notes because they divide bugs up based on time it takes to complete them. Many known bugs were pushed back for a 10.5.1 update because they were labeled as "not serious" enough to halt the release of Leopard. I expect we'll get 10.5.1 not too long after the discs for 10.5.0 arrive.

The current build isn't bad though. I haven't experienced any of the bugs you mentioned, so perhaps you need to contact Apple and report them.

Anyway he is true that there are a lot of serious bugs unlisted on the release note. Many people (and I underline many) cannot even download from Safari. I had various kernel panics related to mdworker, once or twice a day (without any 3rd party metadata plugin installed). And so on... definetely these need to be fixed before final, even for a .0 release.

[orangetbear]

Maybe they'll pull the usual trick of releasing it, then shortly after releasing 10.5.1 straight after with lots of the bugs fixed like they did with Tiger

[Thataboy]

Sweet lord, just ANNOUNCE it so I can buy an iMac with the Leopard-up-to-date upgrade that I assume will be available???

Or don't announce the date, but announce an up-to-date program anyway. Come on, WHO in their right mind would buy a Mac now without it??

[palple]

Originally Posted by orangetbear

Maybe they'll pull the usual trick of releasing it, then shortly after releasing 10.5.1 straight after with lots of the bugs fixed like they did with Tiger

Maybe, but before they have to at least fix the Software Update that is not working for many developers as well

[CDonG4]

Originally Posted by mcnaugha

At Yovo84: Yeah it could be. With a SSD and multi-touch screen? Expensive, but light. My 17-inch MBP is a beast to carry.

A multi-touch input device won't do you any good if your OS and Software are not capable of understanding multiple point recognition / multiple point "mouse clicks". I think we're going to have to wait until 10.6 before we see any sort of implementation.

[sc_markt]

Originally Posted by baygbm

I can beat that! My G4 is from 1999 and I am the laughing stock of all my macfriends. I am so ready for a new MacPro. I just hope they offer BluRay as a BTO option!
.

I just replaced a sawtooth 450MHz single processor Powermac (I think it was also made in 1999) with a new MBP. What a freaking difference! You will definitely be pleased with the response and speed of the new machine you get.

[sc_markt]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple Inc. has begun preparatory measures for significant announcements to take place during the last full week of October, AppleInsider has been told.

While sources have requested that we not go into detail regarding the specific measures being put into place, they say the announcements are likely to arrive any time between the 22nd and 27th of the month.

Obviously, such a timeframe would coincide with Apple's self-imposed release schedule for Mac OS X Leopard, which the company -- after having delayed the software once -- has promised for "October."

As of Wednesday evening, the source code to Leopard had not yet been frozen and a Gold Master had not yet been declared. However, the operating system in recent weeks has inched closer to this status with the last full builds including only one known issue.

Historically, Apple has tapped the final Friday of the month to roll out its major operating system overhauls. For instance, it launched Mac OS X Tiger on the eve of Friday, April 29, 2005.

Sources have yet to rule out the possibility that Leopard would be accompanied by additional announcements from the Cupertino-based company.

Update: We are receiving additional tips from industry sources who indicate that October 26 is currently the estimated ship date for Mac OS X Leopard.

For those readers who don't plan to run out to an Apple store the day Leopard hits the streets, Amazon.com is currently taking pre-orders with a price guarantee of $129 for the single license edition and $199 for the 5-license family edition.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

So we should see those secret features that Jobs talked about.

[JeffDM]

How long does it take to press & package a few million discs? The predicted release is about three weeks away now, that just doesn't seem like a lot of time to do that.

[thechef72]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

How long does it take to press & package a few million discs? The predicted release is about three weeks away now, that just doesn't seem like a lot of time to do that.

1-2 days maybe?... if you beat your child labor maybe less.

[Kolchak]

Originally Posted by CDonG4

A multi-touch input device won't do you any good if your OS and Software are not capable of understanding multiple point recognition / multiple point "mouse clicks". I think we're going to have to wait until 10.6 before we see any sort of implementation.

Um... I've been using MultiTouch on my Mac since 10.3. That's with a FingerWorks iGesture tablet. It's not the huge problem you think it is.

[palple]

Originally Posted by JeffDM

How long does it take to press & package a few million discs? The predicted release is about three weeks away now, that just doesn't seem like a lot of time to do that.

I think that 1 week will be enough.

[oberpongo]

Originally Posted by JeffDM;

How long does it take to press & package a few million discs? The predicted release is about three weeks away now, that just doesn't seem like a lot of time to do that.

I wonder why apple doesn't allow for online purchase&download of leopard. With Broadband Speeds reaching up to 50Mbps such a download could be done very quick. Burn your own DVD for Backup.

[marzetta7]

Leopard...complete 64-bit OS, now with native Blu-ray burning capabilities, and now updated hardware with Blu-ray drives available.

C'mon I can dream can't I...probably won't happen until January though.

[FreqTraveller]

Hi guys.

I will be in the US and plan to purchase a MacBook Pro on the 14th of Oct.
Could anyone tell me what is apples policy if they issue the Leopard within two weeks after I purchase the MBP (which will come with Tiger)?
Will they issue a free (or for a small amount) upgrade (like it was with Windows before issuing the Vista)?

Please let me know from your experience.

Thanks.

[Thataboy]

Originally Posted by FreqTraveller

Hi guys.

I will be in the US and plan to purchase a MacBook Pro on the 14th of Oct.
Could anyone tell me what is apples policy if they issue the Leopard within two weeks after I purchase the MBP (which will come with Tiger)?
Will they issue a free (or for a small amount) upgrade (like it was with Windows before issuing the Vista)?

Please let me know from your experience.

Thanks.

You will get a free upgrade ONLY if Apple announces a Leopard "Up To Date" program (which they have not yet done). They may or may not do it at all. If they do it, it would likely coincide with the announcement of the Leopard release date. I think similar programs in the past have been $19.95 for "shipping and handling."