Apple Starts Developer Testing of OS X 10.8.4 With Build 12E27

Apple on Monday began developer testing of the next version of OS X Mountain Lion by seeding the first beta build of OS X 10.8.4. The build, number 12E27, comes just over two weeks after the public release of the long-tested 10.8.3.

The build’s seed notes ask developers to focus on testing Safari, graphics drivers, and Wi-Fi, but lists no known issues. Interestingly, these focus areas are identical to those included in the final 10.8.3 beta builds.

While Apple works on future versions of Mountain Lion, the company is also well into development of the thus far unnamed OS X 10.9. Starting with OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple moved to a yearly release schedule for its desktop operating system. The next major version of OS X is therefore expected to launch this year, although the company has yet to make any official mention of it. However, many websites have been registering traffic from an operating system designated as 10.9 since late last year. If Apple follows the same release schedule as previous years, the next version of OS X should be released in late summer.

Until then, registered developers can download the 10.8.4 updater from Apple’s Developer Center now.