And the official release date for Apple's forthcoming Snow Leopard operating system is now, erm, we're not entirely sure.

The new OS X 10.6, to give it its official name, has been hotly anticipated, as all Apple products are, with an originally slated release date for some time in September.

Then the rumour mill began. First Apple "accidentally" listed a Mac Box Set version of the operating system on its Apple store yesterday, which promised to ship within 24 hours. The Box Set bundles Mac OS X with iLife '09 and iWork '09, and will retail at $169 incidentally.

And now the reports are that the OS has been listed on Apple's UK site as shipping "by 28 August", at a price of £7.95. Except it isn't.

When we looked on the site it said the shipping date was still due for September, despite screen shots from various news sites asserting the August date.

Whether Apple's paranoid PR machine is deliberately spreading misinformation in this way to mask the real launch date, or the firm is so inept that it has jumped the gun twice in a couple of days, we're all getting a bit tired of this.

To be honest, life is becoming a little too short to be worrying about OS release dates. Sorry Steve.

21 Aug 2009