Apple just announced their new Mac operating system, the OS X 10.8 or Mountain Lion, which is now available for developers to preview.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple CEO Tim Cook discusses what’s new in the Mountain Lion and how they want people to experience familiarity in all Apple devices, from iPhones to iPads and now Macs.

“We see that people are in love with a lot of apps and functionality here,” said Cook, referring to his iPhone during the interview with WSJ. “Anywhere where that makes sense, we are going to move that over to Mac.”

Though some features of their mobile devices were already incorporated in the Lion OS X, like advanced gesture controls by touching the Mac’s track pad rather than a display screen and the ability to view desktop apps as icons in an iPhone-like grid, Apple wants to integrate more iOS features in the Mac OS.

So what’s new with the Mountain Lion?  

Cook already stated some of the new features during his interview, but some developers already had the privilege to experience the new OS.

iOS-like Mountain Lion Features

• Familiar iOS icons appear on the Mac OS like Messages (replaces iChat), Notification Center, Notes and Reminders;
• Twitter and Sharing: the ability to easily send content to, and receive notifications from, Twitter, and other online services from within Safari and other applications;
• Game Center: iDevice users can now play with each other even if they use different iDevices;
• AirPlay Mirroring: you can now send email or web video to your TV with this;
• iCloud: the cloud storage simultaneously announced with the iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S which allows users to store their data in the cloud as well as sync those data to all their iDevices, making their data available anytime, anywhere.

Non-iOS Features

Gatekeeper: a new security measure from Apple to fend off malware by controlling which apps can and cannot be installed in your Mac.  Users have the option of only allowing apps from Mac App Store or Mac App Store and identified developers or apps from anywhere or anyone be installed in their Mac.  By default, Mountain Lion saves apps from Mac App Store and identified developers.  Still, users can override the new security system.

Chinese-friendly: though Apple is facing major problems in China, they still considered the fact that the Chinese market is one of their largest and growing market and they have to address the fact that Chinese users have difficulty using their device.

“They know about Apple and what Apple stands for,” Cook said during the interview, referring to Chinese Apple users. “Then they search out and look for the Mac.”

Self-inflicted Pressure

Another important point tackled during the WSJ interview is the impact of Microsoft venturing in the mobile sector, and if they feel any pressure about Microsoft’s move.

“I don’t really think anything Microsoft does puts pressure on Apple,” said Mr. Cook, who added that Apple is focused on building the best product and the only pressure on the company is “self-induced.”

So What’s Missing In Mountain Lion?

Apparently, Siri.  In CNET’s review of the new Mac OS, they pointed out that most of the iOS features incorporated in the Mountain Lion are the features that greatly utilizes Siri.  Nevertheless, this is just a preview of Mountain Lion and rarely does Apple give everything away.  So who knows?  Siri might be included in the commercial release slated for late Summer 2012.