Reports hint at early Snow Leopard release

Apple's hotly anticipated Snow Leopard operating system could be ready for release as early as next week, according to reports.

A listing for a Mac Box Set version of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard reportedly appeared briefly on Apple's online store, promising to ship within 24 hours. However, Apple has since pulled the listing.

The Box Set bundles Mac OS X with iLife '09 and iWork '09, and will retail at $169 (£102), according to the Mac Rumours web site.

Although the new operating system is not officially set for release until September, this early glimpse could indicate that Apple is ready to ship the product sooner than expected.

Amazon has already started accepting pre-orders, and found demand so high earlier this year that it claimed the top two spots in the e-commerce giant's software sales charts.