10.5 orders double 10.4

VARs are reporting that pre-orders for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard -- available from the Apple Store, Amazon (with Parallels Bundle), and MacMall (for delivery on Oct 26th) -- are double what they were for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger according to a report from CRN. The reasons: dissatisfaction with Microsoft Vista, the fact that this is the longest period of time between major releases of Mac OS X, and Leopard's new features. Patrick Brown, CEO of Brown Computer Solutions, said "We've probably doubled the backorders of Leopard, compared to what we did with Tiger. With the Intel Macs, Apple has significantly increased the installed base. We do expect a very successful launch."

Apple recently posted a guided tour of Leopard, covering the new 3D dock, "stacks" of items that fan out automatically with one click, the Finder with integrated CoverFlow technology, Quick Look, Time Machine, Spaces, Mail, and iChat. Apple's new Stacks technology provides one-click access to numerous items in folders right from the Dock, displaying a grid by default when too many items are present to produce a reasonable "fan" effect. The company's CoverFlow technology is built into the operating system, and works with Quick Look for browsing through documents and previewing their contents without launching the actual application that created them.

In order to prep for the release of the delayed OS, Apple has reportedly scheduled a series of launch events at 6 pm on the day of its release and plans to keep stores open until midnight as part of its launch. Apple's stores may close prior to the launch event at 6 pm local time and re-open to celebrate the launch of the next-generation operating system.

Meanwhile, Apple UK and British resellers are planning a series of Leopard-related events.

by MacNN Staff