OS X Mountain Lion to Drop July 25, Just Ahead of iPhone 5 Release Date

 

Apple's upcoming operating system, OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, may be scheduled to drop next week on July 25, according to a report from 9to5 Mac.

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Some Apple Store employees have been told to plan an all-nighter for July 24, leading to speculation that the company's new Mac operating system, will roll out the next day. The new OS has 200 new features and is designed to seamlessly tie together apps from across Apple's hardware ecosystem. The list includes Reminders, Messages, Notification Center, Power Nap, Dictation, Gatekeeper and Twitter, which will make it easier to share links and messages to the social network.

Also on July 24, Apple's quarterly earnings report is scheduled to be released. Last year, the current Mac operating system, Lion, was announced during a July earnings report and released the next day.

The OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion will be available to Mac users as a $19.99 upgrade to their current operating system. Apple gave developers a taste of the new system at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier in June in San Francisco. While OS X Mountain Lion is designed for Mac computers, the best features of the new system are the ones that tie together other hardware from Apple's ecosystem, said Sarah Rotman Epps, an analyst at Forrester.

"Those advance the notion of post-PC productivity. They are experiences that help people be productive using multiple modes and devices," Epps noted.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's Windows 8 system is set to be released later this year. It has been designed to work with touchscreen devices as well as on laptops and desktops. The computing giant has struggled in the mobile space, particularly with tablets, but early reviews suggest the new system is the company's best attempt to rival Apple.

Apple is also rumored to be releasing the iPhone 5 next month on Aug.7, as well as working on a smaller and cheaper iPad Mini.