Apple unveils Mountain Lion OS challenging Windows 8

In the face of Microsoft’s emerging Windows 8, Apple has unveiled the latest version of its Mac operating system, allowing all desktop and laptop computers to run in the same fashion as its iPhones and iPads do. The Mountain Lion OS was made available to the developers on Thursday. The latest Apple OS, whose price has not been announced, will hit the shelves no later than this summer, which is far sooner than it was initially planned.

"The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better,” Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said in a statement. “The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.”

Apple has decided to make this move early on keeping in view Microsoft’s Windows 8, which has challenged Apple’s OS by being able to work on both keyboard-centric computers as well as touch devices. Mountain Lion also attempts to enhance Apple’s iCloud service, allowing Mac users to share saved documents across the internet along with creating and accessing reminders and notifications on any Apple device - which means changes can sync from one to the other.

Mountian Lion also helps uniting the computer and the television with AirPlay mirroring, which will allow users to watch TV on their computer screens through an extension. This essentially means that with an AppleTV, you can choose to make the TV mirror your laptop screen. Moreover, the new software will also enable users to quickly and easily share information on Twitter’s microblogging service from the Mac apps and the new Messages app, is going to replace the iChat. Lion users can see a preview version of the app by downloading it for free.

Apple’s Mac sales have seen a rather stagnant trend compared to the sales of its iPhones. In 2010, iPhone sales, for the first time, exceeded those of Mac’s and so far the trend has continued. The Cupertino, California-based company, has been trying since then, to improve its Mac sales. This time Apple has continued its outreach to the Chinese market with some of the features specifically designed for it including popular search engine Baidu and Twitter-equivalent Sina Weibo.