Mountain Lion out now as Apple teases 'amazing new products'

Mountain Lion roars on to Apple computers today, as Apple reveals it's made another mountain of cash -- and there are "amazing new products" to look forward to. Could that be the first teaser for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini?

OS X Mountain Lion, Apple's new software for iMac, MacBook and MacBook Pro, is on sale today, for £14. Heavily influenced by the look and feel of the iPhone and iPad, Mountain Lion shares several features with phone and tablet software iOS.

Apple laptops and computers today get a Notification Centre like the one on iPhone and iPads, to keep you posted about new emails, tweets and alerts from apps. Game Centre joins up your mobile gaming jollies with your computer, and Messages keeps you chatting even when your phone is in your pocket.

Mountain Lion also adds extra integration with iCloud and Facebook, as well as various features aimed mainly at Chinese users. Look out for our full in-depth review of the new software coming very soon.

It's another good day for Apple, with this quarter's financial results revealing more boffo business. In the last three months or so Apple has sold more than 35 million iPhones -- nearly double the number sold this time last year. The California company also sold nearly 12 million iPads, one and a half times last year's number. That adds up to a whopping £5.6bn in profit -- less than the record-breaking previous quarter, but that was a holiday season.

Revealing those results, Apple head honcho Tim Cook said "We are also really looking forward to the amazing new products we've got in the pipeline" -- the big tease. We're guessing he's talking about the new, widescreen iPhone and the rumoured iPad mini.

Mountain Lion is the first salvo in the resurgent war between Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft's desktop software Windows 8 arrives on 26 October, with the Microsoft Surface tablet and Windows Phone 8 to follow -- at roughly the same time as the expected iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

Will you scale the heights with Mountain Lion, or does it not add enough features to justify upgrading? Is OS X influenced too much by iOS? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.