Even as Apple continues to iron out the kinks in Leopard, rumors are flying that the next version of Mac OS X might be revealed as early as next week, although it may be more of a "security and stability" release than anything else.

According to the Unofficial Apple Weblog, Apple might seed an "early build" of Mac OS X 10.6 (there's no snappy nickname quite yet) to developers at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Word has it that the new OS could be ready to ship by January 2009 (in time for Macworld), and that it would be the first Intel-only version of OS X—sorry, PowerPC users.

And finally, TUAW's spies say that OS X 10.6 would come with little in the way of earth-shattering features; rather, the update would be all about "stability and security."

It's not clear from the rumors whether Steve Jobs would trumpet the purported update during Monday's keynote, or if the first batches of code will simply be released to developers. My guess is the latter, given that Jobs will probably have his hands full (presumably, at least) with the new 3G iPhone, but hey—you never know.

As usual, Apple hasn't commented on the rumors—and it does seem a little soon for Apple to be coming out with a new version of Mac OS X, especially considering the 22-month gap between 10.4 "Tiger" and 10.5 "Leopard."

Of course, if 10.6 is just a maintenance release, the timing starts to sound a little more plausible. Then again, how will Apple convince Macheads—myself included—to shell out $100-plus for a "security and stability" update? That would definitely put the reality distortion field to the test.

Anyway, we'll be getting the answer soon enough, so stay tuned.

Update: Ars Technica has more details, along with 10.6's purported code name: "Snow Leopard." Interesting. 

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Rumor: Mac OS X 10.6 to debut at WWDC 08? [TUAW]