Apple has took covers of its next generation Mac OS – the OS X Lion. The product which has quite some time left before a public release was announced at the Back To The Mac event held a few hours ago.

This latest update to OS X is special in that it borrows a lot of UI elements from its smaller cousin, the iOS which runs on Apple’s handheld devices. Incidentally, iOS itself was derived from OS X and its now at the receiving end – literally!

Whats new on OS X Lion?

We will start with the App Store. Well to be politically correct, the App Store would not be an integral part of the OS – but a functionality that would be added to existing versions of OS X in about 90 days from now. Just like on the iOS App Store, all software installations in the Mac App Store would involve just a single click. Other features include a redownload option – especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own.

Apart from this there is a new thing known as the Launchpad – from where you get instant access to your apps. It offers a full-screen display of all the apps on your Mac. You can swipe to access multiple pages of apps and drag and drop items to folders Newly downloaded applications from the App Store will be listed automatically on the launchpad.

Another new addition is the Full Screen apps feature on Mac OS X Lion using which you can bring an app to full screen with one click, switch to another full-screen app with a swipe of the trackpad, and swipe back to the desktop to access your multi-window apps.

Mission Control, as the name sugegsts would be a centralized “command center” of your Mac from where you can see all the actiities your Mc is currently performing.

Sounds exciting?

Well then hold your excitement till the Summer of 2011 because thats when OS X Lion would apepar on the horizon.