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Release appearance

macOS 10.8 Public

Full article
Public release

Recorded context

About this appearance

OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 reached the public channel on July 25, 2012 with cross-device services, communication, notifications, sharing, media, input, security, regional, delivery, and compatibility changes.

Date
Jul 25, 2012
Availability
available
Revision
No

Release notes

What changed

Original editorial synthesis. Linked references appear with the claims they support and in the source ledger.

Public release

Apple made OS X Mountain Lion available on July 25, 2012 as a Mac App Store download for eligible Lion and Snow Leopard systems. A separate July 30 follow-up in Apple's publication trail confirms the release had been available for four days.[1][2]

Confirmed shipped scope

The structured entries summarize the public announcement's iCloud setup and synchronization, Messages, Notification Center, sharing, Dictation, AirPlay, Game Center, Gatekeeper, Power Nap, Safari, China-focused services, Mac App Store delivery, and installation requirements.[3]

Preview versus public evidence

The February record is explicitly a developer preview, not a public release. The June announcement describes planned July behavior, while the July 25 page controls the launch record. Developer-only graphics, video, Multi-Touch, and other API claims that were not repeated in the public-launch material are not promoted into structured public changes.[4][5][6]

Explicitly deferred at launch

Although Facebook integration appears in Apple's launch feature list, the page's footnote says that integration would arrive in an upcoming Mountain Lion software update. It is therefore not recorded as introduced in the 10.8 launch delta.[7]

AirPlay specification change

Apple described AirPlay Mirroring as 720p in the February developer preview but as up to 1080p in the final July announcement. The structured launch record uses the final public specification and preserves the earlier number only as superseded development context.[8][9]

Version and security boundary

This page represents the initial 10.8 release only. Apple's archived index later lists 10.8.2 on September 19 and identifies 10.8 and 10.8.1 as its predecessors, but those point versions have no durable local releaseVersion routes. The index also omits a launch-specific 10.8 security advisory, so no later security fix is projected backward.[10][11]

Source ledger

References

Sources are linked to the claims they support. Publication and access dates are shown when available.

  1. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · July 25, 2012; availability and upgrade path

    Back to text ↑
  2. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 report; four days of availability

    Back to text ↑
  3. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list through Pricing & Availability

    Back to text ↑
  4. Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview with Over 100 New Features

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-02-16T00:00:00.000Z · Developer-preview availability and API sections

    Back to text ↑
  5. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · July 25 public availability and feature list

    Back to text ↑
  6. Mountain Lion Available in July From Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-06-11T00:00:00.000Z · Planned July availability

    Back to text ↑
  7. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Facebook feature item and deferral footnote

    Back to text ↑
  8. Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview with Over 100 New Features

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-02-16T00:00:00.000Z · Developer preview; 720p AirPlay Mirroring

    Back to text ↑
  9. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Public feature list; up-to-1080p AirPlay Mirroring

    Back to text ↑
  10. Apple security updates (2011 to 2012)

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-08-10T00:00:00.000Z · July 25 Safari 6.0 and Xcode 4.4 entries; no Mountain Lion 10.8 entry

    Back to text ↑
  11. Apple security updates (2011 to 2012)

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-08-10T00:00:00.000Z · OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 — 19 Sep 2012; available-for column

    Back to text ↑
  12. Apple security updates (2011 to 2012)

    Apple Support · Apple · 2023-08-10T00:00:00.000Z · 2012 security-release chronology

  13. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Additional features; faster Safari

  14. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Additional features; Gatekeeper

  15. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Additional features; Power Nap

  16. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; AirPlay audio

  17. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; AirPlay Mirroring

  18. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; Dictation

  19. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; Game Center

  20. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; iCloud integration

  21. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; Messages

  22. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; Notification Center

  23. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Feature list; system-wide Sharing

    Facebook-specific integration is excluded because Apple's launch footnote deferred it.

  24. Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview with Over 100 New Features

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-02-16T00:00:00.000Z · February 16 developer preview

  25. Mountain Lion Available in July From Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-06-11T00:00:00.000Z · Gatekeeper controls and Developer ID description

    Pre-release detail for a feature explicitly confirmed at public launch.

  26. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · July 25 public availability

  27. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 availability confirmation

  28. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; Dictation

  29. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; Game Center

  30. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; iCloud and iWork

  31. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; iCloud setup

  32. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; Messages

  33. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; Notification Center

  34. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 feature confirmation; system-wide Sharing

  35. Mountain Lion Downloads Top Three Million

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-30T00:00:00.000Z · July 30 post-launch confirmation

  36. Mountain Lion Available in July From Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-06-11T00:00:00.000Z · June 11 planned availability

  37. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Launch overview and feature list; iCloud and iWork

  38. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Launch overview and Pricing & Availability

  39. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · New features for China; email setup and Baidu search

  40. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · New features for China; input and dictionary

  41. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · New features for China; Sina Weibo, Youku, and Tudou

  42. Mountain Lion Available in July From Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-06-11T00:00:00.000Z · Power Nap hardware and refresh details

    Pre-release compatibility context for a feature explicitly confirmed at public launch.

  43. Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store

    Apple Newsroom · Apple · 2012-07-25T00:00:00.000Z · Pricing & Availability; system requirements

Release changes

Changed in this release

Features, fixes, removals, and regressions first observed in this release record.

enhancement · changed

Safari performance update

documentedconfirmed

Apple's public announcement characterized the bundled browser as faster. The entry preserves that as a vendor-authored launch claim and does not present it as an independent benchmark result.

  1. [1] Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store · Additional features; faster Safari

feature · introduced

China-focused social and video sharing

documentedconfirmed

The system-wide sharing model included regional microblogging and video destinations for Chinese users.

  1. [1] Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store · New features for China; Sina Weibo, Youku, and Tudou

compatibility · changed

Mountain Lion installation baseline

documentedconfirmed

The public launch defined minimum software, memory, and free-space requirements; model-specific feature support could still vary beyond those baseline conditions.

  1. [1] Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store · Pricing & Availability; system requirements

enhancement · changed

China-focused account setup and web search

documentedconfirmed

The system reduced account-configuration friction for supported regional mail services and exposed a major Chinese search provider inside Safari.

  1. [1] Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store · New features for China; email setup and Baidu search

enhancement · changed

Chinese text input and dictionary improvements

documentedconfirmed

The release expanded built-in language support for Chinese users through revised text entry and a dedicated reference dictionary.

  1. [1] Mountain Lion Available Today From the Mac App Store · New features for China; input and dictionary