In a Worldwide Developers Conference keynote dominated by iPhone news, Apple CEO Steve Jobs did offer bit of OS X-centric news to attendees: The next version of OS X is code-named Snow Leopard.

Apple disclosed a little more about the new OS. Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering describes the new OS stating, "We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more. In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world's most advanced operating system."

[ For all the news about the iPhone 3G's launch at WWDC, check out InfoWorld's special report. ]

Rumors about an OS X update code-named Snow Leopard surfaced in the weeks leading up to WWDC. According to several published reports, the rumored update was expected to be for Intel-based Macs only. It would offer few new features, focusing on speed and stability improvements while unifying OS development across Apple's Mac, iPhone, and Apple TV platforms.

Apple explained: "Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year."

Snow Leopard delivers support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named "Grand Central," making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X's lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 per cent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.

Profiting from the iPhone license, for the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.

Macworld UK is an InfoWorld affiliate.