May 25, 2012 - 05:30 PM EDT — AAPL: 562.29 (-3.03, -0.54%) | NASDAQ: 2837.53 (-1.85, -0.07%)

Why Apple’s smart not to show off Mac OS X Snow Leopard now

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 · 11:21 am · 37 Comments

“At last night’s MacWorld keynote, Apple’s last, one product in particular shone in absense: Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard,” Thom Holwerda writes for OSnews.

“I actually think it makes perfect sense for Apple not to show off Snow Leopard at this moment. First of all, Windows 7 is about to explode all over the media. There’s no way that Apple will be able to conquer the media headlines with Snow Leopard with Microsoft officially launching the first Windows 7 beta this week. In addition, it’s CES time right now, and Microsoft is sure to show off Windows 7 in Vegas. Apple might be the darling of the media, but there’s only so much that will help in the coming waterfall of Windows 7 media attention… It simply doesn’t make sense to try to compete for media attention head-to-head,” Holwerda writes.

“No, Apple will demonstrate and launch Snow Leopard when the Windows 7 buzz is at its lowest, or when Microsoft messes something up. It makes no sense to taut [sic] Snow Leopard right now, and I’m sure His Steveness is smart enough to see that,” Holwerda writes.

Full article here.

Categories: All Sites, News

Thank You for supporting MacDailyNews!

♥ Adobe Photoshop CS6 Extended for Mac - Student and Teacher Edition DVD (65171323) only $249!
♥ Blowout: Apple 15.4" MacBook Pro i7/4Core/2.0GHz/4GB/500GB (MC721LL/A) only $1,549.99 + Free Shipping from MacMall
♥ Mac Madness Save 25% on Parallels Desktop 7!
♥ 15% Off Compatible Ink. 10% Off All Others (excludes OEMs). Free Shipping over $55. Coupon: 123BLOSSOM, Expires 6.18.12
♥ Save up to 60% at the Hammacher Schlemmer Special Values Sale-While supplies last.
♥ Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.5 - New! Simply Smarter Speech Recognition
♥ Up to 30% OFF Accessories from Verizon Wireless
♥ Limited Time Offer: Get free ZAGGsmartbuds when you buy a ZAGGsparq!

Comment Feed

37 Comments

1 2 Next »

twilightmoon

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:31 pm · Reply

I suspect Snow Leopard will have a special event where they release new hardware that runs with it. Sometime between now and June perhaps.

The Windows issue is less a factor than the fact that Snow Leopard isn’t quite ready yet, is my guess. I haven’t seen any evidence that MS has had a major impact on what Apple has released or when in the past 10+ years since Jobs came back, with the exception of stuff like Safari when they saw MS wasn’t going to continue to develop its browser on the platform.
yellowhandman

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:39 pm · Reply

It always bothers me when a journalist/blogger/writer can’t even spell properly. It shows a fundamental lack of professionalism, that calls into question the writer’s credibility. It’s TOUT, not TAUT.
NormM

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:41 pm · Reply

Snow Leopard is supposed to be out in early 2009 and Windows 7 not before late 2009, so the whole premise here is dumb. And from what I’ve heard, Windows 7 is Vista SP3, not the second coming.
Mac Daddy

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:42 pm · Reply

Windows 7 is about to explode all over the media? Ha ha ha ha ha, that’s a good one!
CD

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:43 pm · Reply

It seems that the name Snow Leopard has stuck now, but I kinda wish it had a more profound name. Doesn’t really matter, though, IF it kicks butt. The grapevine will spread if it rocks…I think Steve will release it when it has NO major issues…there will always be minor ones.
Sure, the PowerPC users will still cry foul, but life has to move on. Home on iPhone/iPod touch would be grrrreeeaat! How about one year free of Mobile Me with a combined Leopard and iPhone/iPod purchase, since it is under the hood rich instead of new feature rich. Lose to win later.
Crabs

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:45 pm · Reply

Oh, thanks yelowhandman, I could not figure out what he actually meant, I was sitting there thinking, taut? what? what could he mean by taut. Hasn’t this guy ever heard of proofreading?
mike

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:45 pm · Reply

It’s pretty hard to push the ‘NO FEATURES’ thing. I mean. How many ways can they say it. No features.

With Apple, you almost want the Keynote to hurry up, they only have 1.5 hrs to talk, and they timed it JUST perfectly, down to the second it seemed.

While I totally get the thinking, there is a bit of a deadline, Windows 7 will be out in Summer, looking more Maclike than ever, with a cheesy Expose fake and a weird Dock-like thing..(which actually REMOVES functionality from the start menu when you put stuff in the Taskbar, its really funny, like a OS X dock migration)

When are we gonna talk about this thing, which is supposed to be released in a couple months?
No hype?

Wait until after Windows 7 is out? Thats wayyyy too long.
Jubei

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:45 pm · Reply

LOL… Windows 7. Rehashed Vista, really more like an SP updated and repackaged.
ericdano

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:48 pm · Reply

Last night? Really? I’m pretty sure it was MORNING when the Keynote happened…….

Another fine example of “reporting”
mr_matalino

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:52 pm · Reply

When Microsoft messing something up?

And Apple is more like the “red headed step child” to the media…
Macintosher

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:54 pm · Reply

Yes, “Crabs”, I was also wondering! It’s not professionally written enough to satisfy me. I believe that “twilightmoon” has a better idea on this front.
Randian

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 12:56 pm · Reply

“Journalists” is to “professionalism” as “Windows” is to “reliability.”
MacintoshSoftwareList.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:06 pm · Reply

Windows 7 is a joke, and IT people know it. MS already said it is based on Vista.
justme2

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:10 pm · Reply

Snow Leopard is a decent enough name — it’s related to Leopard but with no new features it doesn’t need its own distinct cat name.

As for no news, could be it’s not ready for prime time, like the new Mac mini or Mac Pros; Jobs is likely keeping those announcements for himself after he gains a few more ounces.
crazyy

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:11 pm · Reply

Urgent: Get Windows 7 and a Blackberry as soon as you can! LOL
I agree with another poster that Snow Leopard will be released with another hardware change and that it will be smaller release party as Snow Leopard’s benefits will not be as flashy to the average consumer or iLife user. I for one, am very excited for Snow Leopard and I really appreciate Apple’s work to tie in the graphics processor for use in general application logic and to advance 64 bit to be the rule, not the exception.
Synthmeister

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:13 pm · Reply

Apple needs to ‘tout” Snow Leopard and “taunt” Windows 7.
Not Bill

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:17 pm · Reply

While I agree that it would be better timing, from a publicity angle, to talk about Snow Leopard later. Apple tends to show products when they are ready to be released. I suspect we will see more of OS 10.6 when its development reaches completion.
MCCFR

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:36 pm · Reply

@ericdano…

Following on from Reality Check’s comment, the article is written by someone based in The Netherlands where it was so “last night”.
Thomas from Germany

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:36 pm · Reply

As 10.6 will not have any new feautures, what would there be to show at all at the moment?
mAc-warrior

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - 1:54 pm · Reply

“As 10.6 will not have any new feautures, what would there be to show at all at the moment?”

I personally would have liked to see some benchmarks or some visible indication of the performance gains we can expect with OpenCL and Grand Central in particular. I suppose Apple does not like showing things like this in keynotes anymore though… I remember they used to benchmark those latest G4 chips all the time back in the day. Sort of wish they were more like that again… I’d rather see that kind of stuff than a 30 minute iPhoto demo.

–mAc