Report: OS X Mavericks isn’t coming until October

If you were hoping that OS X Mavericks was going to be one of announcements to help “brighten” your day at next week’s Apple event, you might be disappointed by the latest report from 9to5Mac. According to sources familiar with the launch, Apple isn’t planning to release the next version of its Mac operating system, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, until the end of October.

Apparently Apple has chosen this later-than-expected release date so it can use the bulk of its software engineering resources to first push out iOS 7, which is expected to become available next week, alongside two new iPhones.

9to5Mac noted that, for the last two OS X releases, Apple has waited until the day after an earnings result release to make them available. And since Apple usually shares its Q4 earnings in October, it is possible we may see Mavericks shortly after the announcement. Additionally, Apple is expected to release a fleet of new Macs this fall, and it would make sense for their arrival to coincide with the launch of the new OS.

OS X Mavericks has been in beta since June, and adds many new features which borrow the look and feel of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. October may not be a terribly long time to give everyone a few weeks to get acquainted with iOS 7 first, but I’ll be paying close attention for any mention of Mavericks at next week’s event.

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