Mac OS X Lion goes on sale Wednesday

The much anticipated next version of Apple's Mac OS X will go on sale tomorrow, execs announced on Apple's second-quarter conference call.

Marguerite Reardon Former senior reporter

Marguerite Reardon started as a CNET News reporter in 2004, covering cellphone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate and the consolidation of the phone companies.

See full bio

Marguerite Reardon

July 19, 2011 2:28 p.m. PT

Apple's next version of Mac OS X, dubbed Lion, will go on sale tomorrow, the company's execs said during Apple's second-quarter conference call.

The latest version of the OS has "over 250 new features," the company has said. The OS first made its debut at an event dubbed "Back to the Mac" in October, where the company also launched its second-generation MacBook Air and iLife '11 software.

Some of the most important features include: support for full-screen applications, more multitouch gestures, system resume, auto save for app data, AirDrop file transfer, and a feature called "Launchpad" that mimics the icon-based app launcher in iOS.

Apple released a gold master version of the software to developers on July 1. Now the OS will be commercially available for $29.99 on the Mac App Store and on new Macs.

The updated software will likely lead the path toward upgraded hardware, such as next-generation Mac Pros and Mac Minis. So stay tuned for news on new products.