[I added the video on the left because I thought the "booms" were especially appropriate to accompany this post. (via: MG Siegler)]

Apple is saying the next version of its operating system, Leopard, will ship four months late, now in October. Why the delay? In the official announcement, the following appears: “iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our (Mac OS X) team.”

That a cell-phone would be deemed more critical to the bottom line of Apple than the next generation of the operating system further underscores the appropriateness of the company dropping “Computer” from its name.

Statement from Apple as it appears on Apple.com’s Hot News:

“iPhone has already passed several of its required certification tests and is on schedule to ship in late June as planned. We can’t wait until customers get their hands (and fingers) on it and experience what a revolutionary and magical product it is. However, iPhone contains the most sophisticated software ever shipped on a mobile device, and finishing it on time has not come without a price — we had to borrow some key software engineering and QA resources from our Mac OS X team, and as a result we will not be able to release Leopard at our Worldwide Developers Conference in early June as planned. While Leopard’s features will be complete by then, we cannot deliver the quality release that we and our customers expect from us. We now plan to show our developers a near final version of Leopard at the conference, give them a beta copy to take home so they can do their final testing, and ship Leopard in October. We think it will be well worth the wait. Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we’re sure we’ve made the right ones.

I have a question: Who the heck is making that statement? Read all of those personal pronouns: “We can’t wait…” “We had to borrow…” “We cannot deliver…” “Life often presents tradeoffs, and in this case we’re sure we’ve made the right ones.” Recently, Steve Jobs issued “some thoughts” (I called it an Apple papal bull) that blasted the DRM requirements required by record labels. At least then, the statement had someone stating it. Perhaps somewhere there exists a version of the statement that is attributed to someone other than the “corporate we,” but without such attribution — as it now appears on Apple’s “Hot News,” it seems like a building is talking. And in the “official press release,” no one is quoted either. Is there a choir of Apple employees who stand out by the street in Cuppertino and recite these “personal plural statements” in unison: is that why it says, “We.” Who do they think they are, Dave Barry?

Breaking: PaidContent.org is reporting that Brentwood, Tenn., based Rivals.com is about to be acquired by Yahoo! for as much as $100 million.

Sidenote 1: This is a real “phoenix” dot.com boom, bust, rise-from-the-ashes story. The founders in Seattle who started it raised and burned lots of cash. The assets were purchased by some Nashville-area folks in the resulting fire sale. And then, a profitable business model was put in place and the company has done nothing but grow for the past six years. No talk of Web 2.0. Never mentioned on TechCrunch. Just crazy growth.

Update: (5:30 p.m., EDT) NashvillePost.com has an item that points to PaidContent.org’s report, but has not been able to confirm the story. NashvillePost.com’s Walker Duncan reports the company “saw revenue of approximately $22 million in 2006. This year it is looking to push that figure up to $35 million.” The rivals.com website says it recorded more than 3.5 billion (with a “B”) page views in 2006 and on “national signing day” in February recorded 74.3 million page views. For my friends in other parts of the country who may read this and wonder why, I’ll just say that down here in the south, fans of college football teams can dedicate a big chunk of their waking-day discussing what college may be chosen by a promising lineman from, say, Opp (Ala.) High School. Radio shows spend hours on that topic and an entire industry has evolved to serve the limit-less need to know what college some 16-year-old may consider in 2009. For these folks, “national signing day” ranks up there with Christmas and the Daytona 500.

If you’ve got an online video distribution channel and your name is not Google, you are probably listed in this press release from CBS announcing the formation of an “Interactive Audience Network.” I think it means that CBS has decided that it’s a good thing to make money anywhere people have a screen. They’ve got the content and the ads. Why not push it out everywhere there are eyeballs and headphones? The first question one might ask, however, is “What about the local affiliates?” However, I think when given an option, people will view programming on those nice, new expensive big-screen HD TVs. (Granted, the programs will be recorded and the commercials zapped, but still, we’ll still need those friendly local affiliates.)

Using scientific data, the comScore people have discovered that Firefox users all fly in private jets and look like models in Gap ads…and, oh yeah, their big brother can beat up your big brother.

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