Mac OS 9.0 Shipping Delays, iMac Bundling

While it's readily apparent that Apple has had a bit of a problem with the Power Macintosh G4 product line, as revealed in the series of embarrassing events that took place over the last 24 hours, Apple has also slipped slightly with the debut of Mac OS 9.0, formally known as Sonata.

With the number of reports from consumers who claim to have received their copies of Mac OS 9.0, many users are wondering why they have not received their own copies, which are on pre-order. According to industry sources, Apple accidentally shipped 450 retail copies of Mac OS 9.0 early last week.

Indeed, these were official copies of the Golden Master of the new system software, but "the mistake was shipping the product before Apple's support staff had been properly trained on the new System," one source said. "Mac OS 9.0 is officially scheduled to ship on the week of October 23rd, as you stated earlier. At this time Apple should have prepared their phone support people."

Regarding the system the new iMacs will ship with, we've received information that suggests the following: the initial production units, dating back to last week, will indeed ship to consumers with the Borg-based system that we've detailed in the past. iMacs that are currently being produced will ship with Mac OS 9.0 pre-installed. Apparently, Apple made one of the fastest transitions to the new system with the production of the new iMacs. At least we can commend them for this move :)