Edible Apple

With so much talk centering on iPhones and iPads these days, it’s been easy to forget that Apple is working on what is by all accounts supposed to be a significant OS X update in the form of OS X Lion.

And to be honest, aside from a somewhat brief preview of the OS back in October by Steve Jobs, there haven’t been many OS X rumors creep up over the past few months, which is somewhat strange given that it’s supposed to launch later this Summer.

Late on Tuesday, however, TechCrunch relayed that work on OS X Lion is moving full-steam ahead.

Well, first of all, from what we’re hearing, Apple is now using it internally. That they’re testing it shouldn’t be surprising, but it’s apparently being widely used internally. Recent statistics seem to confirm this. Looking over the TechCrunch logs, it seems that OS X 10.7 (Lion) has been seeing a surge of usage in recent weeks. After peaking in late August/early September, stats fell off a bit. But now they’re soaring again, indicating that full-scale internal testing is underway.

One of the more anticipated features of OS X Lion is the promise of a revamped UI. Indeed, Apple’s OS 10.7 preview seemed to suggest the adoption of iOS style scrollbars that disappear when not in use. And in keeping with Apple’s tradition of not showing their true hand, the company has promised a slew of new features they haven’t yet revealed.

Betas of OS X 10.7 are expected to start falling into the hands of developers sometime soon.