3m Downloads Makes Mountain Lion Most Successful OS X Release Ever

Apple has branded Mountain Lion its most successful OS X release in the company's history, with more than three million downloads of the new version in four days. Released late last week as a $19.99 update for existing Lion and Snow Leopard users, Mountain Lion brings with it Twitter integration along with more interface and control elements borrowed from iOS on the iPad.

"Just a year after the incredibly successful introduction of Lion, customers have downloaded Mountain Lion over three million times in just four days, making it our most successful release ever," Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, said in a statement this morning.

Also among the 200+ new features are iCloud integration – Mountain Lion being the first OS X refresh since iCloud was launched – and AirPlay Mirroring, along with the same dictation system as on the iPhone 4S and new iPad. Game Center has also been added, and Facebook integration will be enabled in the fall.

An unofficial count on Friday pegged Apple as having seen in excess of two million downloads of Mountain Lion in the first 48hrs. These new, official figures confirm that – and more, though there's no word on how many unique Apple IDs actually bought Mountain Lion. A single purchase can be used to update all Macs registered to the same ID.

Nonetheless, it's an impressive achievement and certainly lays down the gauntlet to Windows 8 which is expected to arrive in October. There's more on Mountain Lion in the full SlashGear review.