OS X Mountain Lion: Facebook integration in the autumn

While OS X Mountain Lion will be available from next month, the integration into Facebook will only be done in the autumn.

On Monday, Apple announced a price and release date for their OS X 10.8 operating system. Mountain Lion will be available during July for $19.99 via the Mac App Store. This operating system closely resembles iOS, right down to its integration with Facebook (planned in iOS 6).

But while Mountain Lion will be coming down the mountain in the summer, the integration with Facebook will have to wait for the autumn for end users, as the application is currently only available for developers.

Apple’s choice is explained by their desire to have all iDevices running a coherent system. It is also in the autumn that the iOS 6 upgrade will be released o users of the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

In OS X Mountain Lion, Facebook support will be integrated to allow users to post photos, links and comments with their location from within applications. Once connected, Facebook friends will automatically appear in Contacts with their profile photos.

Facebook notifications will work with the OS’ notifications centre, from where it will also be possible to update your status. Besides Facebook, Twitter will also benefit from integration into the notifications centre.

A share button will allow you to share links, photos, videos and other files from within compatible applications.

"Clicking the Share button allows you to share quickly without having to switch to another app, and you just need to sign in once to use third-party services like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Vimeo. Facebook and Twitter are integrated with Notification Centre so you can receive notifications when someone sends you a message or mentions you in a post or Tweet", indicates Apple, who doesn’t under-estimate social networks after their own Ping social music network failed.