Samurai Coder

Here’s a list of dates of last-updated Apple products.¹

• Mac mini — Last updated on September 6, 2006
• iMac — Last updated on September 6, 2006
• Mac Pro — Last updated on August 7, 2006
• MacBook — Last updated on November 8, 2006
• MacBook Pro — Last updated on October 24, 2006
• iPod — Last updated on September 12, 2006
• iPod nano — Last updated on September 12, 2007
• iPod shuffle — Last updated on January 30, 2007.

My assumption is that full-screen iPods are delayed not for technical reasons, but delayed to avoid distracting customers into iPhone, which is scheduled to ship in June. Macs may have something to do with iPhone integration, but given the fact that iPhone is compatible with both Windows and Mac, it’s not a good reason.

This long release interval of Macs is possibly due to two reasons: one is the processor; the other is the OS. Now All Macs are based on Intel processors. Intel is soon releasing their new processors. Apple, I think, will adopt the new processors as soon as they are available on the market. The OS is another reason. In WWDC 2006, Apple announced that “Leopard” would be available in Spring. As we are all curious, Apple is still hiding “top secrets”. The security level of the “top secrets” seem to be fairly high. It hasn’t leaked anywhere. Developer seeds of “Leopard” have numerous enhancements not discussed in WWDC last year. Still none of them look like having “top secrets”. I speculate the security level is as high as that of iPhone. People weren’t sure how iPhone look and what it does until MWSF 2007. Even most critics were dubious about the existance of Apple’s plan of iPhone. Based on the experience we had about rumors of iPhone, can anybody have a concrete idea about “top secrets”?

I have no clue if Apple’s development on “Leopard” is on schedule or not. But, a recent leak on MacRumors indicates that “Leopard” will not ship anytime soon. Apparently developer seeds are not the same builds that Apple’s OS team, who are working on “top secrets”, have now.

The facts are:

• Recent developer seeds have a long list of known issues.
• Apple has been adding features to the seeds.
• The two facts above are about the Leopard without “top secrets”.
• In WWDC 2006, Apple annouced that Leopard would be available in Spring 2007.
• WWDC 2007 is scheduled for June 11-15.

In conclusion, Leopard is not the final stage of its development. Spring 2007 ends on June 30. This is the most boring season for me.²