Apple Inc. said it won’t be shipping its next-generation operating system in June as planned, saying it had to divert resources from the project so that it could launch its highly anticipated iPhone on time.

The new shipment date for Mac OS X “Leopard” will be in October, the company said Thursday. The iPhone will make its debut in June as planned.

Apple shares dropped $1.75, or nearly 2 percent, to $90.44 in extended’session trading after the announcement. Earlier, they had closed at $92.19, down 40 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The “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 (quality assurance) resources from our Mac OS X team,” Apple said in a statement.

Apple announced the iPhone - a smart phone that also serves as an iPod media player - in January to much fanfare. The Cupertino-based company said Thursday the iPhone is still on track to be shipped in late June and has passed several of the required certification tests.

Read more at Yahoo!

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