Apple continues to hold out on the exact date customers will have access to its Mountain Lion operating system.

Could the time be closer than users expect? According to a report from 9 to 5 Mac, Apple has began asking a few of its retail employees to prepare for future overnight shifts on July 24.This has resulted in speculations that the Mountain Lion will be released on July 25.

In support of the predictions, CNET added that Apple launched Lion the day following its earning report, and since Apple is scheduled to announce its most recent earnings on the 24, the possible Mountain Lion release on the 25 wouldn't be too far off of a guess.

The overnight employees will supposedly be putting the system's master image on each Mac within the store.

The blog does however acknowledge that this could be just an average overnight shift.

Regardless of whether the rumor is true or not, the Mountain Lion will be made downloadable from the Mac App store in the near future. Upgrading to the operating system will cost only $19.99 and has already been made available to developers in its Golden Master stage.