Recent rumors about the upcoming operating system from Apple, Mac OS X Mountain Lion say that it is already under testing by AppleCare specialists as it was just recently sent out to them by the ‘mothership’ from Cupertino. Assumptions are also being made about the fact that the version sent out is identical to the one which Apple are soon going to launch officially.
The ones initially catching on the rumor were 9to5Mac , who have reasons to believe that it is actually news and not just a rumor. Based on an screenshot of the upcoming OS from some Apple insiders and on a discussion with their sources, it looks to be a verified news. The build number 12A269 that was sent out to Apple Store specialists via a Mac App Store redeem code, is the Golden Master version of OS X Mountain Lion.
As you would normally expect from Apple, a company which has a pretty high standard of product launches, they decided to send out the operating system to their employees in charge of sales, prior to the official announcement. The main reason for doing this is to allow the staff in Apple Stores to get familiar with the new OS, in order to offer support to their customers.

Mountain Lion, the newest version of Mac OS X will bring a lot of new features like the integration of Facebook and Twitter, a Siri based application for dictation, a center for games along with a few security enhancements for e-mails and other communication apps. Moreover, it will have a better or proper integration of Apple’s iCloud service along with an improved Notification Center, a new Messages app and a lot more features. What’s really great about pretty much every new version of Apple’s operating system is the fact that it is backwards compatible, up to computers bought five years ago. If you haven’t upgraded your setup for a while now, you can check the list of supported hardware here.
Getting back to the subject, we have to mention that 9to5Mac found out about Apple’s plans to announce officially the new product on the 25^th of July. This would seem pretty logic if you think about previous press statements released by the company, when they said that users will be able to download Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store in July this year.
Those of you who are registered as Apple developers don’t have to wait until the official release as they have the option to use the Mac Dev Center to download the version that was sent out to AppleCare specialists from stores.
Source.