Apple to Rollout Mac OS Upgrade By Mid-2012

Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) released a preliminary version of the next upgrade to its Mac OS X operating system, dubbed ‘Mountain Lion’, to developers on Thursday. Further, the iPhone manufacturer said that the software will be made available for download from the Mac App Store in late summer. That will make the Mountain Lion one of the company’s fastest Mac OS rollouts to date, as Apple usually follows a two-year cycle period between consecutive upgrades. What might have prompted the company to speed up the process? In one word, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

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Windows 8’s success is a risk to the iPad and hence, the Mac

Long-time Apple foe, Microsoft, is planning to launch its Windows 8 operating system later this year. The software, built to work not only on traditional keyboard-centric devices but also touch-based ones such as the iPad, is Microsoft’s attempt to challenge Apple in the fast growing tablet segment.

The iPad has cannibalized on PC sales, most of which run on Windows and have hardly registered any growth over the last few years. At the same time, the iPad and the iPhone have had a ‘halo effect’ on Mac sales, which has helped Apple gain market share at the cost of its Windows counterparts. This was because there was hardly any tablet that could pose any kind of threat to the iPad’s popularity.

However, all that might change if Windows 8 becomes a hit and tablets on Microsoft’s competing software become a hit. The iPad may lose its aura and Mac sales may once again fall to the depths that Windows had once resigned them to.

Apple far ahead in mobile race though

However, this time, Apple is leading the mobile revolution with the iPhone and the iPad. The expertise that it has developed while at the helm of this revolution has and will continue to serve it in good stead while designing a Mac OS that feels like the iOS that runs on its iDevices.

While Microsoft has been a pioneer in designing software for PCs, its Windows Phone mobile OS has mostly disappointed. Only now with the Nokia partnership, things are starting to look up, if only a bit. With the Windows Phone 8 (not to be confused with Windows 8) slated to release by mid-2012, Microsoft may finally have an answer to its mobile woes.

But it will be a tough ask for Microsoft to usurp market share from the firmly entrenched smartphone ecosystems of the iOS and the Android. However, if it manages to stake a claim on the still nascent tablet market, it will not only have a share of a fast growing market segment but also be able to defend its PC market share more effectively.

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