Reports are surfacing that the next version of Apple’s OS X operating system, 10.5/Leopard, will include a system-level BitTorrent client.

According to some of our oldest and most reliable sources within Apple’s software development sector, Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” will include a system-level “BitTorrent” filesharing client that can be user-customized to ‘donate’ upstream Internet bandwidth for things like pushing Software Update packages to Leopard users, delivering iTunes Store content, and just about any purpose to which Apple puts its bandwidth.
Via MacRumors

There was some talk of this type of implementation in 10.4/Tiger, but nothing ever came of it. This could be a great way to help distribute the load of sending out security and software updates, as well as some iTunes content.

Podcasters (Adam Curry comes to mind) have been very vocal about making use of BitTorrent to ease the load on the servers of popular podcasts. This was especially apparent after podcasting was included as part of iTunes. Could this be the start of a movement toward a p2p-based system for those purposes? I also like the idea of rewarding those willing to share their bandwidth with free iTunes credits or something similar.