Apple's next Mac OS X release is due to arrive Mid 2011 with new features, functionality and enhancements. The new OS X Lion will have features from iOS (Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) integrated together. Let's have a look at what's new.

Mac App Store
Already launched late 2010 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this gives your Mac the same interface for purchasing Apps like iOS on the iPhone and iPad.



Launchpad
This feature brings the user interface from the iPad to Mac OS X. By clicking on the Launchpad icon in
the dock, your desktop displays all your Apps in full screen just like an iPad.


Full Screen Apps
View apps in full screen. We have seen this already happen with iLife 11, Mac OS X Lion will bring full screen to more apps such as: iCal, Mail and Preview. Most possibly this will be implemented on Safari and iTunes as well.

Mission control
This new feature gives you a birds eye view of all of your running apps, including full screen apps. Mission control integrates the current Expose and Dashboard together.

Auto Save and Resume
No need to worry about constantly saving your work. Mac OS X Lion will auto save and you can shut your Mac down without closing any applications. Once you turn the Mac back on, your applications will be there right where you left them.

The distribution of Mac OS X Lion is set to be focused in the Mac App Store. Mac OS X will be a simple one click download. However, a physical copy will still be available to consumers that have an older Mac OS X or a very slow internet connection.

Mac OS X Lion offers a wide range of improvements and innovations from iOS, placing them neatly within OS X. But the question is... Are there any performance improvements? The current Mac OS X Snow Leopard's performance is significantly improved over its predecessor. I hope that Mac OS X Lion will not be too bloated and perform decently. We will soon find out.