Apple's OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for Macs will be released this week on 25 July if the firm follows tradition. See also: Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion review

Apple releases Gold Master of Mountain Lion to developers

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The tech giant has released the 'Gold Master' of Mountain Lion to developers, the last version before full release. Last year, Apple announced during its earning call on 19 July that OS X Lion would launch the following day. See also: Apple Advisor.

This year's earnings call is scheduled for 24 July so it's likely that Mountain Lion will follow suit. Apple had previously announced that the OS upgrade would launch this month with an upgrade price of £13.

According to Apple, Mountain Lion brings over 200 new features for Mac users. These include new applications such as Messages, Notes, Reminders, Power Nap and Gatekeeper. Customers currently running OS X Snow Leopard or Lion can upgrade.

The Gold Master release came on the same day Microsoft announced Windows 8 will be released in October.

Follow Chris Martin and @PCAdvisor on Twitter.