By Tariq

Published: 08:00 PM EST (05:00 PM PST)

Despite its absence from all prior distributions, a version of iTunes that can run natively on the first Intel Macs, as well as on current PowerPC Macs, has turned up in a recent developer release of Mac OS X 10.4.3 for Intel.

The iTunes universal binary is one of over fifteen significant changes listed alongside the recent Developer Transition Kit seeding of Mac OS X 10.4.3 Intel build 8F1111, according to sources and reports on the Internet.

The release reportedly packed a slew of additional universal printer drivers from Brother, Canon, EFI, EPSON, HP, Lexmark, Ricoh, and Xerox.

Other notable improvements include a native version of QuickTime 7.0.4, a new SSE/SSE2 based Libm that is IEEE-754 and C99 compliant, and more accurate developer crash logs for Rosetta-dependant applications.

OpenGL applications running under Rosetta also showed signs of performance and correctness improvements in build 8F1111, sources said.

Meanwhile, an automatic update to build 8F1111, released over Software Update to developers who had previously installed 8F1111, followed by adding Rosetta support for applications that rely on Velocity Engine. Previously, Rosetta did not support AltiVec, which includes Velocity Engine.

According to reports, the build -- labeled 8F1111A -- also packed much improved ATI graphics drivers and enabled GDB to be invoked from applications running under Rosetta.

Mac OS X for Intel is scheduled to makes its public debut during the second week of January, where source say Apple will take the wraps off of the first Intel Macs.