Leopard to generate $200 million, new build seeded

As we continue the slow march toward the release of Apple's OS 10.5, better known as "Leopard," tidbits of information continue to leak, speculation continues to run rampant and anticipation continues to build. Apple recently seeded the latest build, 9A377a, to developers and right on schedule, Think Secret has all the dirt on it. Some interesting screenshots demonstrate new features in Safari (like previews of hidden tabs), support for iSCSI and system-wide grammar checking. Despite these new features, the new build still seems far from ready, quelling earlier rumors of a late-March release. A few fanboys (and, presumably, fangirls) continue to keep hope alive, however, claiming that the instability is simply the result of Apple having to remove the OS's secret features before releasing the builds.

Meanwhile, in the world of investments, analysts are predicting that Leopard could give Apple's stock a bit of a lift. Bank of America's Keith Bachman is predicting that Leopard will generate some $200 million in revenue in 2007--besting Tiger's $135 million in 2005. Bachman cites a larger number of Macs in the wild and more consumer Apple users as his primary reasons for the optimistic projection.

For more on the latest build of Leopard:
- see this Think Secret article

For more on how Leopard will effect Apple's bottom line:
- see this Ars Technica article