Mac OS X Lion showroom copies are believed to be winging their way around Apple stores in time for an official launch expected this week. Apple will later today announce its third-quarter results and it is likely the new OS will be on sale via the Mac App Store from tomorrow.
Apple announced during its WWDC in June keynote that the next version of OS X – Lion – will be available from July for around US$29, exclusively via the Mac App Store. This represents a massive drop in price from the US$129 it would have cost for the packaged version in stores.
It has been rumoured that Apple will also reveal a new MacBook Air and Mac Pro kitted out with the new OS and Thunderbolt I/O connectors.
Apple revealed that Mac sales have grown 28pc in the last year while PC sales have shrunk 1pc.
What to expect in the new Mac OS X Lion
The new Mac OS X Lion will come with 250 new features.
These will include:
- A ‘Resume’ feature, first demonstrated last year, that restores all apps on the desktop when you shut down or restart your machine and all documents will save themselves automatically via an Autosave feature.
- Using Time Machine, you can cycle between previously saved versions of documents.
- The new AirDrop feature allows you to drag and send documents to other people in your network.
- A key new feature is multi-touch, will allow users to swipe through webpages, as well as click with the mouse, drag and scroll.
- LaunchPad provides a bird-eye view of all installed app icons.
- Mission Control will provide users with a birds-eye view of all documents and apps.
- Mail has been completely revamped, offering users the ability to create a two or three-column view of messages.
