Apple asks retail staff to test OS X Mountain Lion ahead of July launch

As OS X Mountain Lion’s July launch approaches, Apple has extended their existing software testing base to include Apple Retail employees. In an e-mail to Apple Store Genius Bar members and Creatives, Apple has provided access to its OS X Mountain Lion AppleSeed testing program…

This testing is to be done on personal Macs belonging to employees, and is not standardized in-store OS X Mountain Lion training. This move by Apple, however, is a first, and shows that the company is trying to test the near-final OS X Mountain Lion seeds as rapidly and widely as possible, in a controlled fashion.

This provided seed is a near-final release, not a Golden Master build.

In addition, seeding Geniuses – specifically – with OS X Mountain Lion serves as a taste of the new Mac OS that they must become very familiar with in the next few of weeks. Prior to the launch of OS X Mountain Lion, Genius Bar members will go through a comprehensive series of training sessions about the new OS.

OS X Mountain Lion is a major update for the Mac with over 200 new features and enhancements. These changes include Notification Center, Twitter and Facebook sharing, iMessage, and AirPlay Mirroring.