AppleInsider Staff
Despite being announced in early June at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the next major Mac update, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, may not arrive until late October, according to a new report.
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.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
58 Comments
Despite being announced in early June at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the next major Mac update, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, may not arrive until late October, according to a new report.
Despite?
DP1 of Mountain Lion was seeded February 16, and the final was released July 25.
I have no inside knowledge, but this would surprise me. Mavericks has been quite stable since DP2, and DP7 (13A569) feels pretty much finished since DP5. I'm sure Apple would spend the next 6-7 weeks polishing it even further, but based on past release builds, this sounds dubious. 10.8 - 12A269 10.7 - 11A511 10.6 - 10A432 10.5 - 9A581 10.4 - 8A428 We've already exceeded the build cycles for every release except 10.5, which was pushed back due to the iPhone release. Who knows, maybe Apple is just timing this so it doesn't get lost in the September iPhone hoopla.
I have no inside knowledge, but this would surprise me. Mavericks has been quite stable since DP2, and DP7 (13A569) feels pretty much finished since DP5. I'm sure Apple would spend the next 6-7 weeks polishing it even further, but based on past release builds, this sounds dubious.
10.8 - 12A269
10.7 - 11A511
10.6 - 10A432
10.5 - 9A581
10.4 - 8A428
We've already exceeded the build cycles for every release except 10.5, which was pushed back due to the iPhone release.
Who knows, maybe Apple is just timing this so it doesn't get lost in the September iPhone hoopla.
But an October release means it'll likely be launched alongside the new iPads. So instead of getting lost in iPhone hoopla it'll get lost in the iPad frenzy!
Anyway, I'm still hoping for iWorks 2013 for Mac and iPad to be unveiled unless we have to wait until next year for a new iWork?
Just fix the loss of wifi / ethernet when the computer goes to sleep. Please Apple - concentrate on bug fixes, especially long lasting ones, in addition to the bells and whistles.
So, I wonder if this allows for additional time to change the UI and adapt it to iOS7 and iCloud? Just wondering...