Rumor: Apple's OS X 10.9 Mavericks to arrive in late October

Citing sources with knowledge of Apple's alleged launch plans, 9to5Mac reported on Friday that the debut for Mavericks is nearly two months away. In addition, the site also cited apparent "chatter" that iOS 7 for iPad won't be available until October as well.

Last year, Apple surprised when it unveiled OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in February with little fanfare, outside of a typical keynote address. The software then became available in the Mac App Store in late July, or about five months later.

That means this year's time between announcement and launch of OS X 10.9 Mavericks would actually be shorter than the same window for OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion was in 2012. Still, some had expected that next Mac operating system might launch in the near future, perhaps as soon as Apple's iPhone media event next week.

Just this week, developers were supplied with the seventh preview build of Mavericks. The latest developer preview includes performance enhancements but still isn't ready for the public, with features like iCloud Keychain remaining a work in progress.

Apple hasn't given a specific launch window for Mavericks beyond this fall. When it does launch, it will pack in new features such as iBooks for Mac, Finder Tabs, Apple Maps, App Nap, Compressed Memory, and more.