Last week we reported that several sources had informed us that Mac OS X "Tiger" 10.4 was possibly running late. We had confirmed reports of several key components of Tiger being reported late by Apple developers or others close to Apple. Following our article, there has been discussion by the Mac user community over our claims. In addition, during the course of last week, AppleInsider and ThinkSecret, both posted articles claiming that Apple is readying Tiger for release in April.

There seems to be confusion about the release date. Even though Apple has accustomed us to late announcements (MacOS X Panther 10.3's release was announced just 16 days prior to the event), Panther builds were much more polished in late September 2003, some weeks before the event, compared to what current Tiger seeded builds are reported to be.

So when is Tiger due? The answer is "we don't know". After discussing this with a number of developers as well as people involved in the Mac rumour scene, there are several possibilities:

It might be the case that Apple, in lieu of the file-sharing phenomenon and the various leaks of product betas, has decided that developers don't need to get late seeds of its OS as long as earlier builds provide the same functional characteristics, allowing them to develop or adapt their software to the new OS. It is entirely possible that seeded builds are very much lagging behind Apple's own internal builds.

Moreover, the subject of Quality Assurance comes up too. Apple's initial Panther release was noted for its number of serious bugs. One needs only to remember how 10.3.0 was spoilt by a number of newsworthy bugs (e.g. Oxford 911-based firewire drives, Filevault being the most prominent). Panther's initial problems were quickly resolved by a succession of bug-fixing releases. Arguably Apple might have wanted to get Panther out before the Christmas holiday season. Similarly, now, Apple might want the OS out well before WWDC. With lower standards for release, it wouldn't be surprising if Tiger's GM was finished or nearing release and bug-fixing on the GM was underway.

If any or both of these possibilities are true, Apple's Tiger might be just around the corner, as other sites have reported. If on the other hand, the seeded versions represent the state of Apple's internal development progress, then we wouldn't expect a release prior to late May or, indeed, early June.

We'll be providing follow-up reports. Let us know if you can help.

UPDATE: Further confirmation that Apple is planning to release Tiger in April is reported by eWeek.