Apple is preparing to add AirPlay mirroring and iMessage services to OS X, reports 9to5Mac, bringing two of the most significant new features of iOS 5 to the Mac platform. It’s unclear when Apple will implement the new features, or whether they’re intended for OS X Lion or a future release of OS X.
AirPlay mirroring has been on my want list (and that of many others) for many years, as it would provide a simple and effective solution for wirelessly streaming your Mac’s screen to an HDTV or projector.
iMessage would also be an extremely welcome addition to OS X, granting Mac users the ability to send messages back and forth with iMessage on iOS 5. The ability to send and receive iMessages on your Mac (and to sync iMessages between Mac and iOS) would make the service significantly more useful, and would make it easier to keep an archive of your messages. The feature is expected to be added to a future version of iChat for OS X.
I’m very excited for both of these new features, and certainly hope that the report proves accurate, and that these come sooner rather than later! The below concept video from Jan Michael Cart’s YouTube channel shows what iMessage might look like on the Mac.
