Leopard Released Solo on Oct. 26th - No Other Products Announced

Those of us hoping for additional products and services to share the spotlight will probably be disappointed, as will those who were hoping for more Leopard surprises. Given that the release date is just 2 months shy of Christmas, it's fair to say that this will be the last major product introduction until January's Macworld.

The roll-out of Leopard would be the best time to introduce any other products and services of significance that have been waiting for the Leopard release. If this were to happen, Apple would be staging a product demo at HQ or Moscone Center the Tuesday before the Friday release in order to get these rumored products into journalists hands for a Thursday/Friday article.

This is Apple's pattern for significant new products that don't warrant a Macworld intro like the iPhone or a plain old bump in specs of the hardware. These events give Steve the stage to demo new product features and journalists time afterward playing with them in the lobby so they can write a 5 star review later in the week.

What this means is no 3G iPhone, no new .Mac, no Mac Tablet or MacBook Nano, and probably no Mac Nano (replacing the Mac Mini). I say probably on that one because it still would be in Apple's interest to get that out the door for gift buying season even without a special event.

It also means no new mind blowing Leopard features. When I wrote about the lack of "Secret Features" in WWDC demo, some responded that maybe they were keeping them super-double-secret and would announce at release time. Well, now's the time and they are nowhere to be found.

The last troubling aspect to this is there is no confirmed "Golden Master" for the Leopard release. A GM means that Apple has settled on the version that is going to the disk manufacturers and will be arriving on the 26th. I see three possibilities here:

1. Apple has a stealth GM and we just don't know about it.
2. They don't need as much time as most to get it into production and get it in time.
3. They haven't finished it yet. That could be trouble.

So while I'd love to report a special event that rolls out Leopard, the MacBook Nano and new .Mac services all at the same time, I think we are just going to get the OS we saw 15 months ago at WWDC '06.

And from looking at the 300+ features, I have a hard time advising someone that there is something in there worth $129. I still have that feeling that Leopard is our Vista. I hope firsthand experience proves me wrong.


What do you think? Is Apple still hiding something for 2007 release? Should we just be happy with Leopard and shut up? Let us know in the Comments section below!

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Your Comments:

I think you misinterpreted me. I fully think that Leopard is worth $129. I just don't think it's worth rushing out to buy right away as soon as possible. I was basically saying that there's nothing in this OS that is essential, and it would be fine to stay with Tiger. That said, I mist definitely will be moving to Leopard by mid-November. Hopefully Mac developers don't go too crazy with Core Animation... I could see some really annoying stuff coming out

 Adam F
 10/21/2007  at  05:26 PM

Pleae just come out with a tablet with Leopard!

 Dochie
 10/23/2007  at  03:46 AM

Huh...duh...

 gary
 10/24/2007  at  02:27 PM

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