Apple's Leopard web site has been updated to reflect the arrival of the latest and greatest incarnation of OS X 10.5 - a.k.a "Leopard". Not only do they give us a day but a countdown counter with up-to-the-second updates. According the counter and my network-updated, time clock we will be able to get our hands on Leopard on October 26th at 6:01 PM (time zone not specified - but the countdown timer does change if you change time zones). If you don't wish to party at a local Apple retailer on the 26th you can pre-order at the Apple Online Store and if FedEx delivers early in your neighborhood you can be the first to have installed Leopard and have the bragging rights to be #1 in your locale. The Apple Stores will close at 4PM and then reopen at 6PM with the shelves loaded.

“Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we’ve ever released,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And everyone gets the ‘Ultimate’ version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129.” Also available is a 5-User Family pack for $199.

Apple is touting 300+ new features (316 to be exact), "even Leopard innovations have innovations". There are 38 new categories of features including: Unix (12), Xcode 3 (10), and Terminal (9), hopefully most of us will never have to experience any of those. I'll be reviewing all of them and will update this post with my top ten later today.

UPDATE: OS X Server Leopard is also being released the same day and packs 250 new features, including Podcast Producer, Wiki Server, Spotlight Server, and iCal server. A 10-Client version will cost $499 and the Unlimited Client version $999. Leopard Server claims to be the easiest server to install that you do not even need IT department support because it uses Apple's new Server Assistant and Server Preferences feature.

UPDATE 2: Top Ten New features

No. 10 - Google Maps Access from Address Book (a la iPhone).

No. 9 - Boot Camp - Automatic PC Key remapping whatever keyboard you use.

No. 8 - Automator Support for non-Automator-aware applications.

No. 7 - Dashboard - Web Clip - Make Dashboard widgets from any portion of a web page.

No. 6 - Quick Look - Look inside a document without launching the application.

No. 5 - iChat - Photo Booth effects including chroma keying so you can be seen in front of the Grand Canyon while chatting from your living room..

No. 4 - DVD Player Float - Lets you watch movies in the background while the DVD window floats above foreground applications and a Time Slider that lets you scrub through a video.

No. 3 - .Mac Syncing - Of Dock, Dashboard Widgets.

No. 2 - Leopard Desktop - Download Stacks and Sorting Stacks.

No. 1 - Time Machine - Backup for those who often forget.

Out of 316 features it was a tough choice but one of my other favorites that they list are the Safari changes. But, if you downloaded Safari 3.0 Beta you've already experienced those features.

Let us know what you think over in the comments and forums.