Apple announced during its WWDC keynote that the next version of OS X – Lion – will be available from July for around US$29, exclusively via the Mac App Store.
This represents a massive drop in price from the US$129 it would have cost for the packaged version in stores.
Apple revealed that Mac sales have grown 28pc in the last year while PC sales have shrunk 1pc.
The company revealed that three-quarters of all Macs sold today are laptops.
250 features on new Lion OS
Apple SVP Phil Schiller revealed that core apps, like iPhoto, Safari and Photobooth, will be full-screen apps on the new OS.
The ‘Resume’ feature, first demonstrated last year, restores all apps on the desktop when you shut down or restart your machine and all documents will save themselves automatically via an Autosave feature. Using Time Machine, you can cycle between previously saved versions of documents.
The new AirDrop feature allows you to drag and send documents to other people in your network.
Schiller revealed that the new Mac App Store will allow users to make purchases within each app, as with iOS apps at present.
A key new feature is multi-touch, will allow users to swipe through web pages, as well as click with the mouse, drag and scroll.
LaunchPad provides a bird-eye view of all installed app icons.
Mission Control will provide users with a birds-eye view of all documents and apps.
Mail has been completely revamped, offering users the ability to create a two or three-column view of messages.
Lion will be available only in the Mac App Store for US$29.99.
Developers will get an early version of the new OS today. It has 250 new features.
