Apple says OS X 10.5 delay is iPhone’s fault

Either it is unprecedented honesty or the biggest bald-faced fib I’ve ever seen come out of a high tech company.

Apple claims that Leopard, OS X 10.5 will be delayed on account of the iPhone.

In a statement on its Web site it says in part. “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.”

If it is true I can’t imagine the marketing and PR departments at Apple being very happy. What is the message Apple is sending out here?

The message says we’re not as big a company as you think we are and we can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. Not exactly the kind of stuff that inspires confidence.

Again, if it is true, let’s look at the second message it is sending.

Apple is saying that it is more important to live up to the promise of a ship date for a new product that has an unknown market value with an unknown number of new users in favor of its comining in on time with a better OS for its multi-millions of current users.

Who is more important here?

Well, obviously, Apple figures that Mac users are a captive audience so let them wait. But the faint sounds of the cash register ringing in the distance for an entirely new market of Apple users has them willing to turn their back on the current customer base.

Finally, if it is not true, it’s right up there with “my dog at my homework,” “we can’t find the emails,” and “I don’t know how we lost fifteen minutes of tape in the middle of a recorded conversation.”

This industry never ceases to amaze me. It will be interesting to see whether or not by Monday afternoon some Apple official announces the all time favorite, “I misspoke.”