SAN FRANCISCO: Apple, the computer and consumer electronics company, is delaying the introduction of the new version of its flagship Macintosh OS X operating system as much as four months because of quality issues.

The company previously said the program would ship this spring.

The uncharacteristic schedule slippage is particularly embarrassing for Apple, based in Cupertino, California, because it had previously poked fun at Microsofts struggles to complete its Vista operating system.

Microsoft finally shipped the consumer version of its Vista operating system in January - roughly two years late - after starting the project over in the face of technology and security challenges.

Since its release, Vista has generally received a lukewarm or negative reception from software reviewers.

Last year at a conference, Apples head of software development, Bertrand Serlet, took the stage to illustrate how a number of Vistas features were similar to those in Apples current operating system, known as Tiger.

“If you cant innovate, I guess you just imitate,” he said. “But its never quite as good as the original.”

Microsoft executives have declined to comment on the OS X delay, which was announced after the close of the stock market.

But the company took a philosophical stance in a news release.

Pointing to the time needed to shake out the errors from the software code for the program, called Leopard, the company said in a statement, “Life often presents trade-offs, and in this case were sure weve made the right ones.”

In the release, Apple stated that it now planned to give Macintosh software developers a test version of the program when they attend the companys Worldwide Developers Conference in early June and that the final software would ship in October.

In its statement, Apple cited the need to divert its team of programmers to the challenge of introducing the iPhone, which it said was still on track for shipment in “late June.”

Apples chief executive, Steven Jobs, has been promoting new features expected to be introduced in Leopard since the program was first announced at the companys World Wide Developer Conference last June.

Leopard is expected to have a series of consumer-oriented features, including sophisticated data backup, improved graphics and a series of new user control abilities.

Jobs also said the program had “secret” features that would be unveiled closer to the programs commercial introduction.

“This throws a little bit of water on their parade,” said David Smith, an analyst who tracks operating systems at Gartner Inc., a market research firm. But he noted that large software projects were frequently late and said that the slip would not prove damaging to Apple over the long run.

In the past, Apple under Jobss leadership has executed several earlier technology transitions relatively flawlessly, including the introduction of the conversion of his Next operating system to Macintosh and the shift from Power PC to Intel microprocessors.

The operating system delay is the second slip for Apple this year.

The company had said that it would ship its AppleTV video system in February, but it was not available until March 21.