Among the headline features are deep integration with Apple’s iCloud service, and with Twitter. And several features from iOS devices, like Messages and Reminder, are making their debut on the Mac, and will create a more unified experience among Macs, iPads and iPhones.

The release, which is coming only a year after Lion debuted last summer, might just indicate a speeding up of the cadence at which Apple does Mac software upgrades. Usually there’s an interval of 18 months to 24 months between major OS upgrades. That makes this announcement a bit of a surprise. Does that mean we can expect another one about 18 months from now? We’ll see.

Here’s a quick rundown of the 10 new features:

iCloud built in: Mountain Lion will be the first version of OS X built with iCloud fully integrated. Documents in the Cloud is a new feature that will allow documents you create and edit on the Mac to sync up and readily be available on iPhones and iPads. Changes you make in the document on one device will automatically appear on the other. You’ll be able to use iCloud from the moment you start up your Mac and sign in with an Apple ID.

Messages: It’s crazy to think about it, but iMessage users on the iPhone and iPad have sent something like 26 billion messages in only the few months it has been available. Messages is the new instant messaging application that will replace iChat. It will unify the experience between the Mac and iOS devices, and will still be compatible with services like Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and Jabber, but will also bring iMessages into the Mac. Conversations stay up to date across all devices. It supports photos and videos. Also? There’s a FaceTime button.

Twitter: Twitter is also deeply integrated into Mountain Lion. You’ll be able to tweet directly from within several applications, sharing Web site addresses, photos and videos. Central to this is something Apple calls the Tweet Sheet, which you call up from the Share menu. It grabs what you want to share on Twitter and you write your tweet from directly within the Mac OS. And as cool as this is, it’s notable also for what it’s not: Facebook integration. Expect lots of speculation around that.

Share Sheets: Sharing is kind of a big deal these days, so it makes sense that the ability to do it — whether on Twitter or via email or any one of the cloud services out there — would be available on the Mac. There’s a new Share button in Safari and in other applications that makes it easy to send a photo to a friend via email or to Flickr, or a video to Vimeo or to another computer via AirDrop.

Notification Center: The dashboard of notices saying what’s going on in iOS is coming to the Mac. Similar to how you reach it on the iPhone — a swipe down along the length of the screen — it will appear on the Mac with a two-finger swipe from the right edge of the trackpad, and the list will appear on the right side of the screen. When you get a notification from an application — say, an email has arrived, or a download is finished, or a calendar reminder is going off — you can see them all in one place. Also, short messages with notifications appear in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, and then fade away after a few seconds. It reminds me a great deal of a third-party application enhancer I use, called Growl.

Reminders: Another popular iOS app is being added to the Mac. Your to-do list remains synced across the Mac, iPhone and iPad, and you can add reminders that pop up throughout the day, so you don’t forget.

Notes: The all-purpose “take this down for later” application gets the Mac treatment. Soon you’ll be able to drag URLs into a note. And thanks to iCloud, they’ll be synced across Mac, iPhone and iPad. You’ll also be able to “pin” a note to your desktop, meaning it will stay open even if you close the main Notes application. Notes also has a Share button.

Game Center: Long a weakness on the Mac, gaming is getting stronger all the time. Games, it turns out, are the most popular software titles on the Mac App store. So it makes sense to bring the Game Center experience from iOS to the Mac. I saw a quick demo, where two people played a racing game against each other — can’t remember which game exactly — one was on the iPad, the other on the Mac. You’ll be able to challenge friends, keep track of your standings on a leaderboard and see what games your friends like. There’s also support for in-game voice chat, so you can talk trash.

Gatekeeper: Expect this feature to be controversial among Mac software developers. Basically, it’s an attempt by Apple to deal with the fact that the one serious security threat it faces is software that looks good at first but turns out to behave badly only after you’ve downloaded and installed it. The new scheme basically sets up a three-tier system, where the user can decide from where they will be allowed to download and install new software. In the most restrictive — or some will argue safest — case, you can set your Mac to allow only software from the Mac App store. As it does with the App Store on iOS devices, Apple vets the software sold there for safety. In the second case — this one not as restrictive — you can install software from sources other than the App Store, but only from developers who have signed up as a known developer. Here, Apple will not have checked the app for safety, but will at least vouch that the developer is known. Developers will have the option of signing up for a Developer ID. This is the part that I think they’ll find a little controversial. Anyway, in the third case, there are no restrictions. You can install software from any developer and any source, much as you can do today.

AirPlay Mirroring: If you have an Apple TV handy, you’ll be able to use your TV as a screen for your Mac — it’s super easy. If they’re on the same wireless network, the Mac will have a simple pulldown menu that makes your TV mirror what’s on the Mac.

Finally, Apple added a lot of new features for the Chinese market. Text input has been improved, and several popular Web services — like Baidu for search, integration with Sina Weibo for Twitter-like sharing and video-sharing with Youku and Tudou — have been built in, in order to make the Mac OS experience a lot more China-friendly than it has been before. Given the Apple madness that has struck that country in recent months, it will certainly find a happy audience.

Loosely modeled on the iTunes App store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, Apple created the store last year as a reliable place to get Mac software. It follows the same 70-30 revenue split, where software makers share 30 percent of their sale with Apple, unless the app is free.

Unlike the iOS App store, the Mac App store isn’t the only place to get Mac software. You can still find good Mac software from sites like MacUpdate.com which has been a go-to for Mac fans for years; it is still buzzing along, referring users to software and generating 100,000 downloads a day.

Still, the Mac App store is now the biggest online software store in the world.

Apple’s statement is below:

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Apple today announced that over 100 million apps have been downloaded from the Mac App Store™ in less than one year. With thousands of free and paid apps, the Mac App Store brings the App Store experience to the Mac so you can find great new apps, buy them using your iTunes account, and download and install them in just one step. Apple revolutionized the app industry with the App Store, which now has more than 500,000 apps and where customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps and continue to download more than 1 billion apps per month.

“In just three years the App Store changed how people get mobile apps, and now the Mac App Store is changing the traditional PC software industry,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “With more than 100 million downloads in less than a year, the Mac App Store is the largest and fastest growing PC software store in the world.”

“With Autodesk products in both the App Store and Mac App Store, we can reach hundreds of millions of Apple users around the world,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president of Platform Solutions and Emerging Business at Autodesk. “With our free AutoCAD WS and the more powerful professional drafting tools of AutoCAD LT, we’re using the Mac App Store to deliver new products and reach a growing base of new Mac customers.”

“The Mac App Store has unparalleled reach and has completely transformed our distribution and development cycle,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “Offering Pixelmator 2.0 exclusively on the Mac App Store allows us to streamline updates to our image editing software and stay ahead of the competition.”

“In less than one year we’ve shifted the distribution of djay for Mac exclusively to the Mac App Store,” said Karim Morsy, CEO of algoriddim. “With just a few clicks, djay for Mac is available to customers in 123 countries worldwide. We could never have that reach through traditional channels.”

The Mac App Store offers thousands of apps in Education, Games, Graphics & Design, Lifestyle, Productivity, Utilities and other categories. Users can browse new and noteworthy apps, find out what’s hot, see staff favorites, search categories and look up top charts for paid and free apps, as well as user ratings and reviews. The Mac App Store is included with Mac OS X Lion and is available as a software update for any Mac running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. For more information visit, www.apple.com/mac/app-store.

Mac developers set the prices for their apps, keep 70 percent of the sales revenue, are not charged for free apps and do not have to pay hosting, marketing or credit card fees. To find out more about developing for the Mac App Store visit, developer.apple.com/programs/mac.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

It will, of course, be Tim Cook’s first earnings call as CEO since taking over the job on a permanent basis this summer. There will naturally be questions from analysts about any changes in direction, however slight, that may result following the death of founder and Chairman Steve Jobs. Don’t expect much in the way of changes, nor in meaningful answers to questions about them. As much as Jobs is missed, Apple is in the strongest business shape it has ever been in, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Today’s earnings report, which will also be the final report of Apple’s 2011 fiscal year, will only make that fact more plain. Unless something went terribly wrong — and there is no sign that anything did — it will be Apple’s first year with sales north of $100 billion.

The consensus of Wall Street analysts says that Apple will report sales of $29.45 billion, which would be an improvement of more than $9 billion and 45 percent over the same quarter last year, and profits of $7.28 per share, which would be a 57 percent jump.

But as is always the case with Apple, the consensus has a way of being conservative. Sales of the iPhone 4, despite the buzz leading up to the release of the iPhone 4S, remained strong, said Gene Munster, analyst with Piper Jaffray, in a note to clients yesterday.

Munster expects Apple to report sales of 22 million iPhones in the quarter, slightly more aggressive than some estimates, by buyside analysts, of 20 million. “We believe sales of earlier iPhone models, like the iPhone 3GS, held up through the September quarter, which suggests global customers also remained interested in the iPhone 4 head of the anticipated update,” Munster wrote. The iPhone accounts for 46 percent of Apple’s sales.

That means good things for Apple’s gross profit margin, as components used in the older models became cheaper. Munster expects a gross margin of 39 percent, beating Apple’s previous guidance of 38 percent. However, if Apple maintains the gross margin it reported last quarter — 41.7 percent — it implies a much higher overall profit of $7.68 a share, Munster said.

On the iPad front, which accounts for 20 percent of Apple’s business, Munster expects Apple to report sales of 10 million units, which he admits may not seem like meaningful growth versus the year-ago quarter. But remember that last year’s September quarter came right on the heels of the launch of the iPad 1 2. The comparisons will be tough.

And don’t forget the Mac, another 20 percent of revenue. Market research firm NPD reported Mac sales up 20 percent in each of the three months of the quarter. Munster says the street consensus implies Mac unit sales growth of 16 percent, but the NPD numbers imply growth closer to 20 percent.

Finally, all eyes will be on Apple’s guidance for the holiday quarter just ahead. Apple will likely give its usual conservative guidance, which has averaged about 2 percent below the Street on revenue and 10 percent below the street on per-share earnings. But it typically beats the Street’s estimates by an average of 9 percent and 28 percent, respectively. Right now, the consensus view on the December quarter calls for sales of $36.6 billion and profits of $8.98. Plan accordingly.

Munster rates Apple shares “overweight” — the equivalent of “buy” — with a price target of $607. Yesterday, Apple shares hit another lifetime high of $426.70, and closed at $419.99. The shares are up about 27 percent this year.

Update: I corrected my reference above to the timing of the iPad 2 release.

I’m sitting in an exhibition hall at Moscone West in San Francisco, waiting for Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs to give the keynote at the company’s 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference. As usual, the place is overrun with media, analysts and the Apple faithful. The 3G iPhone’s debut should be minutes away.

I’ll keep updating this post through the morning. Stay tuned.

It’s 10:02. We’re close. Someone just told everyone to turn off–get this–all iPhones. (And Blackberries. And especially Windows Mobile Devices.)

I’ll keep updating this post through the morning. Stay tuned.

It’s 10:02. We’re close. Someone just told everyone to turn off – get this – all iPhones. (And Blackberries. And especially Windows Mobile Devices.)

Oooh. 10:06. Steve is on stage. He says there are a record 5,200 attendees, and they sold out. There are 147 sessions on WWDC, including 62 on the iPhone. 169 hands on labs. Over 1,000 engineers on hand.

Jobs says there are 3 parts to Apple. The Mac. Music businesses, with iPod and iTunes. The third part is iPhone. This morning, will talk about the iPhone. Jobs says he will bring Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller on stage later to help. Bertrand Serlet after lunch will give peak at Snow Leopard, the next version of OSX.

Start with iPhone software. The iPhone 2.0 platform software. Includes the SDK. Developer program on March 6; in 95 days, over 250,000 SDK downloads. Over 25,000 applied to pay developer program. Admitted 4,000 to the program.

Enterprise support: Exchange support out of the box. Push email, calendars, contacts. Can be remotely wiped. Worked with Cisco to include secure VPN services, and other network security demanded by the enterprise. 35% of the Fortune 500 has participated in the beta program. Top 5 commercial banks. Top 5 securities firms. 6 of 7 top airlines. 8 of 10 top phama cos. 8 of 10 top entertainment companies. Also who’s who of higher ed in the beta program.

They are showing a video with enterprise IT people talking about how much they like the new iPhone software.

Stock update at 10:15: Apple down $2.81, or 1.5%, at $182.83.

Jobs brings Forstall on stage to talk about the SDK. He is talking about APIs. Same OSX kernel on the iPhone. Almost line for line source code as OSX. Comprehensive core services layer for database API with SQL Light and core location, to easily build location based services into your application. (SOUNDS LIKE THEY ARE DOING GPS IN NEXT VERSION, is what that sounds like to me.) Core audio, including hardware acelerated OpenGLES for graphics. (For games, for instance.) Also Cocoa Touch – user interface object oriented framework. Instruments is a full suite of performance tools

Schiller is going to do a demo of Interface Builder. It’s a little on the, uh, crunchy side. This is a developers’ conference, after all. Creating tool bars. Layout tools. I’m trying to get excited about this. It does seem easy to build a user interface for the phone.

Schiller says in 3 months, there are 1000s of developers using the tools in the SDK. He is reading quotes from people who love the SDK for the iPhone. Disney likes it. Someone from InfoWorld likes it. Fox Interactive Media. David Pogue of the New York Times.

Can we see the 3G iPhone now?

No, not yet.

Schiller is bringing some developers on stage to do some software demos. First up is Sega. In March they showed a version of Super Monkey Ball. Someone from Sega named Ethan Einhorn is going to demo the game. One of the interesting features is using the accelerometer in the phone to steer around the playing field for the game. Will launch with the AppSore at $9.99.

Next demo is from eBay: Ken Sun is the eBay guy doing the demo. They are showing Auctions on the iPhone. Took them 5 weeks to develop. Easy access to search on eBay. Summary of activity. They are searching for Wii Fit; brings up all the items for sale. Easy to add items to Watch List. Can see current bids; or make new bids. Will be a free download.

Loopt: Sam Altman is doing their demo. You can see on a map where your friends are. He says it is best version they have ever made. They have developed for most mobile platforms. You can tap on pins on the map, and see what they have posted in the way of photos, or text. Integrated with iPhone, so can send email or call. The power of location, plus contact list. “You never have to eat lunch alone again,” he says. Will be free on iPhone App Store.

Next: TypePad, with mobile blogging application. Demo is by Michael Sippey. He is demonstrating how to blog from the phone, including using the camera. It’s apparently a lot easier to blog from the phone than it is to blog from my laptop.

Stock update at 10:38: down $4.55, or 2.4%, to $181.15.

Next demo: the Associated Press. They build something called the Mobile News Network. Use location APIs to auto retrieve content from multiple sources. Also can read top news, business, entertainment and sports news. Can also watch video from their news network. You can even email them accounts of news events; the AP as a forum for user-generated news. Another free download.

Demo: Pangea Software. Brian Greenstone is showing two games ported from Mac to iPhone. One is Enigmo, physics based game. The other is Cro Mag Rally, a 3D caveman racing game. In that game, the iPhone itself is the steering wheel. The device is the controller. Both games are priced at $9.99 each.

Demo: A guy who works in the insurance industry in England. His name is Mark Terry, and he has a demo called Band, which is a collection of virtual instruments. A two octave piano. A drum kit, called Funky Drummer. 12 bar blues instruments, for playing the Blues. And a bass guitar for backing tracks. All can be recorded, overdubbed, and jam. Will be on the store in a few weeks time.

Demo: MLB.com: Jeremy Schoenherr. Brand new app for the iPhone. It’s called MLB@Bat. You can see who is batting, pitching, line score. What you can’t get anywhere else: real-time video highlights. Clips come minutes after the play. Right after it happens on the field. In the app store when it launches.

Demo: Modality. Demo by S. Mark Williams. It’s a learning application for medical students. Created app to replace flash cards to memorize anatomical information.

Demo: MIMvista, a developer of medical imaging software. Mark Cain is their demo guy. He is showing how radiologists can see images on the iPhone. It’s pretty cool stuff, if you are a radiologist.

Last demo: Digital Legends Entertainment. Based in Barcelona. Started on their project 2 weeks ago. It’s a game. Xavier Carrollo Costa is their demo god. They are a mobile game developer. They ported an action adventure game. Full 3D characters. I think the game is called Krull. (But I’m not sure.)

Stock update: Down 7.08, or 3.8%, to $178.56.

Apple will include Push Notification Service to developers; when you quit application, no more connection to server. Maintain persistent IP connection to the phone; so third party apps can push notifications. Can push badges, custom alert sounds, customer text alerts. And can include buttons to auto-launch applications. For all developers. Presever battery life to avoid background processes eroding performance. Will be available in September.

Jobs is back. He is talking about some new features in the software. Contact search. Added iWork document support. And Office documents. Had Word and Excel, and now Powerpoint as well. Added bulk delete and move. Save photos to iPhoto. Turn calculator to landscape mode to turn it into scientific calculator. Added parental controls. And added a tremendous amount of language support. Includes two forms of Japanese, two forms for Chinese, both simplified and traditional. Includes one where you draw the character with your finger. Also can change languages on the fly. One of the great advantages of not having a bunch of plastic keys, Jobs says.

Jobs is talking about App Store. Developers get 70% of revenue. No credit card or hosting fees. No charge for free apps. FairPlay DRM. Enlarged from 22 countries, now in 62 countries, almost anywhere in the world. 10 MB or less, can be downloaded over cellular or WiFi or iTunes. For over 10 MB, can use WiFi or iTunes.

Adding new way for enterprises to distribute apps internally. Companies can authorize apps and distribute on their own Intranet. Download to computer, synch to phone from iTunes.

Another way: Ad Hoc distribution. Expand developer certification program. Up to 100 iPhones; mailed around, posted anywhere. So two additional ways to distribute apps beyond the App Store.

New service: MobileMe. Phil Schiller is doing the demo. He jokingly calls ActiveSync “Active Stink.”
With MobileMe, can all get push email, contacts and calendars, so everything is up to date. Stores information up in the cloud, to get to it with any devices. Mac, PC, or iPhone. Push information up and down to keep everything up to date all the time. It’s like Exchange for people without Exchange.

Schiller says they also built Web 2.0 applications giving desktop like experience on the Web. Go to any computer, use me.com. Schiller is going to demo the application. Email Calendar. (The site does not appear to work yet, by the way; try it yourself.) Will work on any native apps on Mac or PC. $99 a year service, with 20 GB of online storage. Free trial for 60 days. Available in early July. Will replace .Mac. Can continue to use .Mac service and addresses, but can switch over whenever they want.

Now, iPhones. Jobs notes Apple introduced first iPhones June 29 of last year. Users love their iPhones, Jobs says. 90% customer satisfaction. 98% are browsing. 94% using email. 90% are text messaging. 80% using 10 or more features. Sold 6M iPhones until we ran out a few weeks ago.

Next challenges: 3G network. Enterprise support. 3rd party apps. More countries. More affordable. 56% say it is too expensive.

Take it to the next level: iPhone 3G.Thinner. Full plastic back. Same 3.5 inch display. Camera. Flush headphone jack on top. Improved audio. Why 3G? For faster data downloads for browser and email attachments. 3G speeds are actually approaching WiFi. “Amazingly zippy,” Jobs says. 36% faster than Nokia N95 or Treo 750, both 3G phones.

Battery life: 300 hours standby. 3G talk time of 5 hours, better than 3 hours on other phones. 5-6 hours of high speed browsing. Video 7 hours. Audio 24 hours.

GPS is built into the new phone.

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