Leopard GM Build, Apple Retail Sales Launch, Free T-Shirts

This week, Apple announced that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard had been completed and will be launched on Friday, October 26th at 6 p.m. nationwide.

According to our sources, Apple did indeed settle on the last Gold Master candidate (Build 9A581) as the final retail version of Leopard. Despite some early claims that the "Gold Master" of Leopard had been leaked to the internet, all of these claimed leaks appear to be false. Apple has kept the distribution of Leopard Gold Master internal and is not even planning on releasing the Gold Master to developers until it makes its way into consumers hands.

Apple's retail launch of Leopard will take place at 6 p.m. local time at Apple Retail stores across the U.S. and Apple Stores will be giving out Leopard T-Shirts to the first customers. Customers buying new Macs at Apple's Retail stores on the day of the launch (even before 6 p.m.) should find Leopard DVD inserts already included.

If you haven't already ordered online, MacRumors readers are organizing meetups in their local regions.