Back to the Mac: Early Builds of OS X 10.9 Include Siri, Maps Integration

It was reported earlier this month that web logs were showing that Apple was testing early builds of OS X 10.9. Now it is reported that the builds are showing that both Siri and Maps are being integrated into the next version of the Mac OS.

9to5Mac:

Early builds in testing of the next-generation Mac operating system, OS X 10.9, point to Siri and Maps integration coming to Mac computers next year, according to our reliable sources.

These sources say that early builds of OS X 10.9 integrate Apple’s Siri voice command software much like Apple’s newest iPad models running iOS 6.

Dictation, which uses hardware resources and an infrastructure similar to what Siri uses is already available on all Macs that are capable of running Mountain Lion, the current Mac OS X operating system.

It also appears the Apple has plans to integrate its often controversial mapping service in OS X as a developer framework, say 9to5Mac’s sources. If the feature moves beyond the testing stage, developers will be able to embed maps into their Mac applications for sale in the Mac App Store.

It is also possible that Apple will bring its own full-featured Maps app to the Mac, but that has not as of yet been confirmed.

The current Mac OS, OS X Mountain Lion, was released in July of this year, after being previewed to developers in February. If that pattern was followed with OS X 10.9, more should be heard about the upcoming OS sometime around the first two months of 2013.

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.