Why Apple Delayed Leopard for the iPhone

Ernest DeFarge writes "Apple recently announced that they've pulled several key programmers from the OS X 10.5 "Leopard" and assigned them to the iPhone in order to get it done on time. In doing so, they delayed Leopard for 4 months. Does that mean that the iPhone is more important to Apple than Mac OS? Or is it just capitalizing on the current state of Apple's fanbase?"

Comments

Re:Unfair comparison

[bgfay]

http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html

Paul Graham's article "Microsoft is Dead" may be applicable here. For me, I'm no longer worried about buying another Windows machine (yes, I'm on XP right now) because I no longer use apps that are tied to Windows. In fact, as things go, I use fewer and fewer apps that aren't web based. I just don't need them any more. Beyond that, most of the apps I use have free alternatives and I use them.

The one proprietary application I still use is iTunes with my iPod. So a Mac machine might work for me next time around. I want one because they are so well designed, unlike this HP piece of junk whose battery doesn't make it an hour, and because friends and family have all had very good experiences.

Then again, I might just throw the whole lot out and buy something cheap and put Ubuntu on it.

Whatever the case, there's more to the equation than Bill Gates's relative worth.

Re:Unfair comparison

[313373_bot]

The comparison is somewhat apt, in my opinion:

10.4 is a good OS and there's no rush to upgrade

XP is a good (enough) OS and there's no rush to upgrade

I believe MS failed its costumers by delaying Vista not because of the delay itself (it would be acceptable if they did ship all the new technology that was promised, not just the eye candy), but because the lateness seems due to incompetence and the inclusion of all sort of technology worthless to the end-user (read anti-consumer drm.)

Now let's look at Apple: if 10.5 does ship with new features that really benefit the end-user, all is well and they are forgiven. But if it is late because of the iPhone, and the iPhone turns out not to be a truly revolutionary product for the consumer, then they are no better than MS.

Watch out for the iphone

[loftling]

My personal theory is that Apple is hiding a big iphone feature. They announced it in January because they had to for FCC filings, they showed us a bunch of the features to get people excited, but there's going to be something more that justifies the price and their entry into the market.

Re:Not locked in, locked OUT

[LKM]

What you're complaining about is being locked out, not being locked in. How does your problem affect Mac users?

Re:Unfair comparison

[A Friendly Troll]

Two-thirds of the people in my office drop kicked their PCs and bought Macs in the last couple of years. That's a trend I'm watching first hand.

I take it you're living in the USA, right? While I don't in any way want to oppose your opinion, as I do believe that the trend you're watching is very much real, you have to think outside the box a little.

I live in a small and rather undeveloped country (but it's getting better); last week was the first time I have ever (!) seen a Mac. It was an iMac running Windows; the guy, an English person, bought it solely for the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). Also, none of the people I know own any Apple products whatsoever. I've never seen somebody with an iPod -- hell, I've never *seen* an iPod. Not even a Shuffle.

What you are observing is probably very specific to your country. I might be wrong, but I will reserve my doubts about Apple products gaining popularity in the world in general. There is still a vast European and Asian market. It's likely that Apple is doing well in some western-European countries, but that's _still_ a small market when the whole world is taken into account.

That said, what *I* am seeing where I live is a trend of switching to Linux, and judging by a whole lot of reports from all around the world, *that* is the real revolution that is happening. I am still on XP, but there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that my next OS is going to be Linux-based, no matter what it takes.

relevancy

[Gary W. Longsine]

No, it would also be relevant if UNIX applications could run on Mac OS X, or if Mac OS X applications interoperated seamlessly with UNIX servers, both of which are true. Thus my comment.

I think it's a cover.

[galimore]

I've been keeping track of Apple's development cycle for the past few years, and I don't think the iPhone has anything to do with the delay. ;) In fact, I have been saying for some time that I didn't think the quality of Leopard was on target for a spring release... well before the iPhone announcement. While I suppose it's possible that the iPhone was somewhat of a drain on the core OS developers, I think this all ties into Steve's "Top Secret Features" announcement... the suspicious lack of any Leopard discussions during MacWorld San Francisco is interesting... but not necessarily surprising... If Apple really does have a rabbit up its sleeve, they may have wanted to wait until Vista was sufficiently saturated before unveiling it.

Keep in mind that Apple claims the iPhone is delayed until June because of the need for FCC approval... so which story are we supposed to believe? ;)

Also, if you actually break down the time that Leopard has had for development... it's *much* longer than previous releases, and that doesn't have anything to do with the Intel work because Apple's been keeping things in sync for 5 years...

I'm skeptical of the announcement... Either Apple's dates have slipped, or they've got something big. It surprised me that Jobs stood up and said there were "Top Secret" features coming, so I hope he makes good on that promise... I expect the unexpected at WWDC in June.