Apple Mountain Lion Released Today

Apple Computers has experienced an immense boost in popularity in recent years, with its sleek Macbook notebooks and assortment of iOS-powered devices proving incredibly popular with both young adults and working professionals alike. With more consumers adopting multiple gadgets carrying the Apple logo, the technology giant has begun to streamline the iCloud experience to allow users to easily share content across the spectrum.

Today Mountain Lion was released with an exciting move to further streamline synchronization, and to bring familiar mobile apps to the desktop operating system.

iMessage

The release of iOS 5.0 dramatically changed how many iPhone users connect with one another, allowing messages to be exchanged using an Internet connection. Known as iMessages, this feature is seamlessly integrated within threads containing text messages. The system’s compatibility with nontraditional communication devices, such as the iPod and iPad, has further cemented iMessage’s popularity amongst consumers.

Mountain Lion introduces iMessage to the desktop computer for the first time, finally allowing consumers to communicate across every device in their arsenal. Messages will replace its predecessor iChat, eliminating the need to rely upon multiple communication protocols. Furthermore, all messages exchanged between devices will be fully encrypted, easing potential privacy concerns users may have.

Notification Center

The Notification Center was another notable addition to iOS 5.0, conveniently placing all app notifications in one easily-accessible place. Notification Center for the desktop should work in much the same way, showing relevant information from popular applications like Mail and Calendar. Those familiar with the mobile version of Notification Center will further appreciate the same ability to enable notification banners, which do not disrupt the working environment.

Share Sheets and Twitter

For those users who choose to connect with the social media network Twitter, Mountain Lion will provide intuitive tweeting capabilities within popular applications. For example,  sharing a photograph or link from Safari couldn’t be easier. Once login credentials have been stored on the machine, one-click tweeting simply requires accessing what’s known as the Tweet Sheet.

The Tweet Sheet is in fact part of a larger system known as Share Sheets. Share Sheets  will allow users to easily distribute information across an assortment of different social networks. In addition to Twitter, Apple has confirmed compatibility with both Vimeo and Flickr. Share Sheets will be available in a myriad of popular applications, including Safari, iPhoto, and Photo Booth.

Notes and Reminders

Notes has been a staple on the iPhone since its release, while Reminders was introduced with the last iOS release. Mountain Lion brings both popular mobile apps to the Mac, eliminating the need for users to rely on third-party apps. Notes will furthermore support multimedia and attachments, in addition to incorporating sharing tools that will allow such information to be distributed via both Mail and Messages.

Game Center

The introduction of Game Center transformed the iPad, iPhone, and iPod into veritable competitors of dedicated handheld gaming devices. Apple plans to widen the field of potential gamers with Game Center on the Mac. Desktop users will now be able to share high scores on their favorite games with other players, as well as compete in exciting contests to determine who has best mastered the game in question.

From more seamless sharing of content created on devices within the Apple spectrum to intuitive sharing tools embedded within popular desktop applications, the upcoming OS X release looks to be one of the most exciting yet. Further adding to the allure of Mountain Lion, Airplay Mirroring capabilities for the Apple TV and the security system known as Gatekeeper should entice current Mac users to upgrade their operating systems. Those users will no doubt be impressed be the range of new features in the operating system, whereas Apple is likely hoping that Mountain Lion will convince even more consumers to transition from traditional PCs to Apple products.