Apple's New Tease: `Back to the Mac'

After receiving nary a mention at Apple's annual developers conference in June, it turns out Mac OS X will be getting its own special event October 20.

Invitations to a special event titled "Back to the Mac" showed up in tech press e-mail in-boxes just moments ago, featuring the above image of a lion peeking out from behind the Apple logo. Besides what we can assume will be an introduction of new Mac hardware, the invitation promises a peek at the "next major version of Mac OS X." Since past versions of the operating system have been nicknamed after large cats (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard), it appears that "Lion" may well be the next version.

The event will be held at 10 a.m. at Town Hall on Apple's campus in Cupertino, Calif. We'll be there live-blogging the event, so be sure to come back here then.