As a part of the lead up to its next major operating system refresh, Apple plans to release an update to Mac OS X that will deliver improvements to the company's Safari web browser and Mail applications.

As this report from Apple Insider states...

According to sources, the first external pre-release copies of the update, Mac OS X 10.4.7, began making their way into the hands of Apple developers on Monday.The software builds were labeled Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J111″ for PowerPC Macs and Mac OS X 10.4.7 build 8J2111″ for Intel machines, those sources said.Mac OS X 10.4.7 will be the seventh maintenance and security update to Mac OS X Tiger since Apple first shipped the software last April.Already sources claim the early builds of the update have patched over 60″ significant issues not addressed by Mac OS X 10.4.6, the most recent release of Tiger.

Specifically, Apple is reported to have asked developers to focus their testing efforts on Mail.app, Safari, Syncing, and iChat. The company also indicated that Mac OS X 10.4.7 would offer improvements for its professional photography customers who are running Aperture.