Apple's latest operating system was released to the public last Wednesday and has already set a new sales record. Cupertino published a statement today pointing out that downloads for Mountain Lion have exceeded three million in just four days, making it the most successful OS X release ever.
GigaOm highlights the fact that there were some early clues pointing to Mountain Lion's potential success. Advertising research firm Chitika Insights released data that showed the new operating system was running on 3.2 percent of all Macs just two days after it was released.
Mountain Lion follows in the success of Lion, a product that reached a million downloads in the first day of availability around the same time last year. That release came with a price tag of $29.99 through the Mac App Store but Mountain Lion is significantly cheaper at just $19.99 for compatible systems with an existing copy of Snow Leopard or Lion.
If you aren't already familiar, the ninth revision of OS X ships with more than 200 new features including a Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, Dictation, AirPlay Mirroring and the Messages app. iCloud integration makes it easier than ever to set up Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders and Contacts. The cloud storage and sync system allows you to keep documents from iWork updated across all of your devices.
Apple is also planning to integrate Facebook into Mountain Lion although that feature isn't quite ready yet. We are told that it will be available in an upcoming software update, however.