Mountain Lion
And then the reveal: Mac OS X — sorry, OS X — is going on an iOS-esque one-major-update-per-year development schedule. This year’s update is scheduled for release in the summer, and is ready now for a developer preview release. Its name is Mountain Lion.
John Gruber, on his exclusive preview of OS X Mountain Lion. I think the name says it all; think 3G and 3GS, Leopard and Snow Leopard. Hence, Mountain Lion is an incremental upgrade, with most of its new features bringing it inline with iOS.
He goes on to describe the one-on-one presentation in a hotel suite. It's fascinating because I can't think of any other company that would do the same. With a dozen bloggers and journalists. Gruber thinks this ensured the limelight remained on iBooks and (upcoming) iPad 3 announcements. Given that Apple is already a media darling, I'd say it has something to do with the passing of Steve Jobs. As Phil Schiller puts it: "(Apple is) doing some things differently now."
One thing is for certain. By moving to an annual release schedule, Apple is still committed to OS X. And that can only be good news for Mac owners.