No-Mac Inc.

Apple recently announced they're going to delay Mac OS X Leopard. Yes, this is a disappointment, but nothing particularly horrible. Another 4 months and it should be shipping to our greasy little fingers. What seems to be getting to people though is Apple's reason for the delay:

...we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA 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.

People's reactions can be summarized as such: "Apple's delaying their Operating System for a cell-phone?! What the fuck is up with their priorities!".

It seems to me that Apple's priorities are just fine. The iPhone is Apple's first computer-like product that heavily uses Mac OS X and it's underlying frameworks that isn't a Mac. Any improvement made to Leopard will also help with the development of the OS for the desktop/laptop. Add to that the fact that the iPhone is one of the most highly anticipated consumer electronics products of the decade and Apple has every damn reason to get this thing done well and on time. Besides, Tiger is a perfectly fine OS as it is right now and will do fine. Those who were holding out on a Mac purchase until June are actually kind of likely to just buy a Mac now instead of waiting, since they now know it's not coming as soon as they expected.1


1. There will be a decrease in the growth of Mac sales though. I just don't think it will be as bad some people are making it out to be though.


Material:
Apple announced Leopard delays due to the iPhone - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)