Leopard delay - What it means for T2

If you are a Mac fan, you probably heard Apple announce this week that the release of Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X, is being delayed from June until October. Those of you who are Timeline customers may be wondering what this means for the next major release of Timeline ("T2").

The bad news:

• T2 is heavily dependent on Leopard technologies at this point, so the release of T2 will also be delayed until October. For me, this means a financial hit. For you, this means you'll have to wait a few more months for features that many of you have requested and to see the cool new stuff that I'm cooking up for you.

The good news:

• The more Leopard functionality that I build into T2, the more convinced I am that building it for Leopard was the right thing to do. T2 is going to be a huge leap forward for timeline software and I'm sure both Leopard and T2 will be worth the wait.

• A few extra months of development time means that some features that I had slated for point releases will be able to be implemented by the T2 launch.

• I've got a handful of important bugs that I've reported to Apple about Leopard that directly impact T2. If delaying the launch of Leopard helps Apple fix these bugs, T2 will directly benefit (so will other apps).

• T2 will be a free upgrade to existing customers, so you don't feel like you need to wait until October to purchase Timeline software. If you need to make timelines, go ahead and purchase the existing version which is still great and when T2 and Leopard are ready, you'll be the first to know.

• If the iPhone (which is blamed for the Leopard delay) brings more people to the Mac platform, this will be great news for all companies that depend on the Mac, including my own, which would make up for the delay in Leopard.

My biggest fear is that the delay may be a sign that Apple is losing focus on the Mac. But, it is way too early to be able to make any conclusions about whether or not this is happening...

WWDC will be very interesting to watch. If Steve Jobs amazed us with new Leopard features and some insanely great Mac hardware, and if Apple doesn't make a habit of delays like this, then all will be well and I'll just chalk it up to growing pains.

How does the Leopard delay affect you and your business?

My iPhone Wish List

My Sidekick III was stolen a month ago, so I've been watching the iPhone with extra interest.

The iPhone, as it has been shown, fits well with what I want. Easy syncing with the Mac, Address Phone, phone features, music, and voice mail all look very nice. But there are 3 missing features that need to be there for it to be a good value for me.

1. RSS News Reader - Mobile web browsing is good, but mobile newsreaders are even better. On my Sidekick, I lived in my web-based news reader during my bus commutes. I don't want to spend time surfing around the web and slowly downloading banner ads, etc... I like my news and blogs in a nice updated, quick and easy to read list. If the read/unread and flagged/unflagged status can be synced with my work and home computer, it would be icing on the cake. Offline support so I could sync in the airport and read news feeds on the plane would be nice too.

   Basically, I want an application that looks just like the Mail on the iPhone but reads RSS feeds. Perhaps this is something Apple could integrate into the Mail application, or something they could let the NetNewsWire folks develop as a 3rd party application. But, I need my feeds!

2. iChat - I was shocked to see iChat support missing from the iPhone on it's introduction. The introduction showed SMS messaging by not AIM. This is such a big hole that no one I've talked to can believe it. I say "I wish the iPhone had AIM" and they say, "I'm sure it does." Well, Apple hasn't shown it yet. I hope it is in there by the release date.

   The Sidekick had great instant messaging support. The great thing about instant messaging, compared to SMS, is that personal and business contacts can see when I am available. With the Sidekick, I was able to be available at my desk computer, my home computer, and on the road. I didn't have to have my phone on all day because I could change my "presence" to my desktop, and I didn't have to use my minutes or annoy other bus riders shouting into my phone when a simple chat message would do.

   So Apple, please bring on the IM! It would be ok with me to start with text and introduce audio and video chat later. It would also be ok with me to start with AIM and add other services later. But, I need my instant message!

3. Developer SDK - I would love to develop applications for this exciting new platform. I know many other developers would too. I think a safe way to do this would be to open it up slowly. Start with widgets, expand access as time goes on.

   Apple has sited security and stability as issues... right. I have tons of 3rd party applications on my Mac, and it is very stable. I'm not saying that security and stability with 3rd party applications is easy, but I am confident Apple can do it. Users would need to know when an application is about to be installed, they would need to be able to easily remove it when they no longer want it, and certain functions (such as turning off other audio when a call comes in) would need to be protected. But, I'd love to see Apple open this door, even if they open it slowly.

   The Mac platform has many of the best developers in the world. I'm sure the iPhone could attract many top developers as well. Users will want niche applications, and developers will want to provide them. Show us some love Apple!

I'm hopeful that Apple will add these soon. They have done a great job of keeping innovations flowing on their other products, and I'm sure they won't let the iPhone get stale. I'm going to try and hold out for second generation before I buy one, but I can't wait to play with an iPhone in person.

In the mean time, please buy my timeline software so that I can afford an iPhone when this apple is ripe!

Quote of the Day

"As much as possible, allow users to do whatever they want at all times."

-- Apple Human Interface Guidelines, 2006-10-03

Leopard Tech Talk - Seattle

I'm attending the Mac OS X Leopard Tech Talk in Seattle tomorrow.

If anyone watching this blog is going to be there, I'd be happy to meet you. Send me an e-mail (Adam at BeeDocuments.com) or my AIM is adambehringer.