Apple: iPhone, Leopard Nearly Ready

But the company also says the iPhone must still clear regulatory hurdles or its planned launch for late June could be delayed.

"The recently announced iPhone, which is expected to begin shipping in June 2007, will be subject to certification and regulation by governmental and standardization bodies, as well as by wireless carriers for use on their networks," Apple said in its 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "These certification processes are extensive and time consuming, and could result in additional testing requirements or changes to the iPhone. Any such slowdown in the certification process may delay the iPhone ship date, which may adversely affect the Company's results of operations."

The warning, though, appeared to be little more than boilerplate, as Apple has said repeatedly it believes the iPhone will be good to go by late June. In the same filing, the company said it determined both the iPhone and the already delayed Leopard OS have reached important stages on their route to market.

"In most instances, the Company's products are released soon after technological feasibility has been established," Apple wrote, adding a couple of sentences later, "In the second quarter of 2007, the Company determined that both Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard ("Leopard") and the iPhone achieved technological feasibility. During the second quarter of 2007, the Company capitalized approximately $27 million of costs associated with the development of Leopard and the iPhone."

The revelation, while appearing to be more of an explanation of accounting than an R&D report card, comes several weeks after Apple announced it would delay the launch of Leopard because it decided to shift some engineering resources to getting the iPhone out the door first, and on time. Leopard, which had been expected to ship in the spring, is now on the calendar for an October release. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company, though, will provide beta versions of Leopard to developers at upcoming developers conference in June.