Apple has been busy making headlines early in 2012! First there was the iBooks in education announcement, then came the rumors of an iPad 3 in March and an iPad Mini by the end of the year. (Hint: Now is a good time to sell that tablet and get the cash to upgrade!) The most recent announcement out of their Cupertino offices is that another operating system update is on it’s way!

Apple announced Thursday morning that the newest iteration of its OSX operating system, OSX Mountain Lion, will be released this summer. The update will expand the iCloud integration that began with OSX Lion in July 2011, and continue the movement toward a more iOS-like experience on the desktop.

iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users will recognize a lot of the new apps and features that will be built in to OSX Mountain Lion:

• Messages (a desktop version of iMessage) will replace iChat and allow users to chat with anyone on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
• Notification Center will notify you of new emails, calendar events, reminders, etc. just as iOS devices do now. (Anyone think this might replace Growl?)
• Reminders will now have its own stand-alone app on the Mac, and will sync with iPad and iPhone via iCloud.
• Notes, like Reminders, will have syncing across all your iCloud-connected devices.
• Game Center brings social gaming to the Mac.
• Sharing via Twitter will be built into the operating system to allow you to share content directly out of Safari, Photo Booth, and other OSX apps.
• Airplay lets you share your screen content wirelessly across OSX and iOS devices.

You can learn more about the features of OSX Mountain Lion at Apple’s site.