14 DAY TRIAL // The next OS X update from Apple may be far off as the company is struggling to contain a wildfire stemming from its faulty Maps application, while also attempting to approve as many applications as possible for the new iPhone 5 and iOS 6.
The company headquartered a 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California is known for its rapid OS X beta seeding program which generally works like a Swiss watch. As soon as one incremental update is out, development on the next build kicks off internally.
In some instances, Apple commissions testing for an upcoming system update before even the current beta is cleansed of all the known bugs.
And developers sometimes have to juggle two streams of seeds, a good example being the development cycle shared by OS X Lion 10.7.5 and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2.
However, once Apple lifted the cloth off its iPhone 5 (releasing these two updates shortly thereafter) last month, it all went silent on the Mac front. Normally, we should have heard reports that developers were beginning to receive builds of OS X 10.8.3. But they’re mum.
And the reason is simple. With the iPhone 5 released to the masses, and a PR nightmare on its hands regarding Maps, Apple needs all the manpower it can get.
The company is also said to be adjusting quality-control at Foxconn to ensure that no more faulty iPhones are rolled out, and the iOS App Store review team is said to have beefed up personnel with members from the Mac App Store review department.
All these efforts are made with the customer in mind, but also to keep those stock prices high.
And with the iPad mini just around the corner, really, who even gives a damn about the next Mountain Lion patch?