Rumor: Apple could release Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” in early summer

Following the release of the Mac OS X 10.6.7 update, Apple’s Mac OS X 10.7 release could see the light of day a bit earlier than expected. Per TechCrunch, Apple could release the new operating system in the early part of this summer. If a new rumor is to be believed, it would appear that Apple should have no troubles meeting this deadline, as it appears the latest and greatest OS X could already be nearing “Golden Master” status.

Apple has continued to work through many OS X Lion bugs and other performance issues as the stated summer release date draws ever closer. Just the same, if GM candidates are already nigh, then there should not be any cause to worry.

By comparison, with OS X Snow Leopard, Apple had released the GM edition to developers a few weeks for the actual public release. If there are no bugs in the first GM version, then Apple could see a similar timeframe with Lion. To give benefit of the doubt to Apple though, it would seem an early summer release may be likely and could be found at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this summer.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available and if you’ve gotten your mitts on a Mac OS X 10.7 build, let us know what you think in the comments.